Springloaded
by PortoSwitch
Summary: [Reader insert] You're a safety inspector helping your two friends set up a haunted house based off of the mysteries and suspected murders at Fazbear's Pizza. After a remarkable discovery, the attraction now has one animatronic, but there may be more to the story than you thought as the night guards begin to disappear...and it's coming for you next.
1. Discovery

Hello everyone! This is my first fanfiction, so I hope you can bear with me. Feel free to leave reviews/criticism in the comments below. I already wrote several chapters ahead and will post them as I can. Hope you enjoy!

You ran your fingers through your hair, exasperated. Sometimes you really hated your job. You got a lot of crap during your shift from customers, but it was just as aggravating being sent all over town for inspections. Make sure the electrical wirings meet company standards, make sure the water pressure in the building is high enough for the toilets to flush and the faucets to run, but won't make the toilets explode into the hallways. Being a safety inspector was a real pain in the ass sometimes, and the people you met with were _just so wonderful._

"No sir, you need to hire contractors to fix your damaged stairwell because it's illegal to do it yourself and it's a major safety hazard."

"No ma'am, you can't sell this house until you replace the old drywall with something that is not asbestos-based."

"If you don't pay for an electrician to fix this, then you're going to have to pay a fine on top of hiring the electrician for unsafe business practices." Boy, they _loved_ hearing that one.

The pay was good, and you were able to live comfortably in your apartment, but it was irritating to keep returning to the same locations because the owners thought they could save money by getting their cousin to do it or something and ending up doing a sloppy job. Not to mention the snotty upstarts that thought they knew your job better than you did, or the pompous rich folks that would try to bribe you into approving the site so they wouldn't have to sink more money into fixing the problem. The matter would be settled with a subtle threat of a fine or going to a higher authority, and you'd always leave with someone glaring daggers into your back, but you knew that people would understand needing to make sure a fire wouldn't break out due to faulty wiring, or something just as tragic.

You weren't sure if it was coincidence or downright bad luck that got your _two best friends in the world_ running to you when they wanted to turn a building they bought into a haunted house for this year's Halloween.

You had gotten the email (and six missed calls, and four very loud and excited voicemails) earlier in the week, and it had taken a few days to get the time to yourself to properly look over everything. You had to contact the warehouse for the schematics of the building, call in some favors for the eventual inspection to make sure the place didn't collapse around your ears, and got the numbers for reliable renovation companies that had a specialty for haunted houses and Halloween-themed attractions.

Joy oh joy, you thought to yourself as you re-read the email and took a look at the building schematics.

According to the email, it was one of the buildings that belonged to the Fazbear franchise before the business tanked. Eric and Kyle were losing their little minds over the discovery. Again. A lot of the email was typed with the Caps Lock on so they were practically screaming their excitement about possibly "discovering" some things left behind to use as props. Not only was this building big enough to host a haunted house, it was dirt cheap because no one wanted to buy the building. No wonder, you thought to yourself. They probably thought it was cursed or something.

These two had been fanatics about this sort of thing ever since they were kids. They loved reading horror stories and watched shows about unsolved murders and disappearances, much to the chagrin of their parents, who thought it was a bad influence. The one they latched onto for the longest time was the stories behind the events that occurred at a chain of restaurants called Fazbear's Pizza.

Those two would surf websites for hours, reading every "first-person accounting" of what happened from Freddy's Diner to Fazbear's Pizza. They chased the stories, pestered their parents and adults at school with questions about what they remembered, and in high school they did a report about it (that they utterly failed and even got suspended for a week because of their "presentation" that terrified the classroom and made one girl puke. They had made a paper mache costume of one of the animatronics and painted fake blood around its eyes and mouth, and while it looked impressive, the principal and staff weren't amused). You were willing to bet their silly obsession with the stories freaked out potential girlfriends. Not that they ever noticed, of course. There were stories to chase and theories to theorize!

Not that you were ever really interested. You heard all of the stories from them, and you were really skeptical. Blood and pus oozing from the eyes and mouths of the animatronics? The murderer stuffed the bodies of the children into the animatronic suits so they were never found? It sounded like a load of crap to you. If the suits smelled as bad as it was described, people would have checked the suits and found the corpses if they had really been stuffed in them. And there'd be no way the murderer could commit five crimes while working for the same company, they would have left a trail of some sort. Having some sort of master killer sprouting from a kid's pizzeria seemed less than plausible. You humored them and wrote back that you would inspect the building with them that weekend when you weren't on shift, but you made sure to emphasize that just because they were your friends they weren't going to get a "discount". They bought the building, they're gonna damn well pay to make sure it runs properly.

You sighed, moving away from your computer and taking a look at the building schematics, unrolling them and laying them out on the desk. God, they're dusty, you frowned, grabbing some random items from the desk and putting it at the corners to make sure it wouldn't roll in on itself. You thought it was a bit odd how eager the man at the city warehouse was to hand them over to you. Taking a look, you could easily pinpoint the areas where the stage and main room would be, since they were the biggest areas on the map. Bathrooms down the halls, decent-sized kitchen, security office at the very back of the building...which was odd. It was also absurdly tiny compared to the other rooms in the building.

You leaned back in your chair, examining the layout. No doubt they were going to break down some walls to create the maze they would make the patrons walk through as part of the attraction. This building had been sitting in the same lot for over 30 years. It was amazing it hadn't been demolished yet to make way for something more practical, like a Starbucks or something. It's not like it had been built over a burial ground of some sort, unless the stories were to be believed, and it's not like Fazbear's Pizza was a beloved establishment, again if the stories were to be believed. Anything inside of it would have been moved into storage or sold, you thought, so what did the guys think they were going to find when they searched the building tomorrow?

With any luck, they don't find anything and the entire thing is a bust. A wasted weekend for you, and the boys are out a couple hundred dollars. You really hoped it would be as simple as that.


	2. Arrival

You pulled up into the driveway of the building and saw Eric and Kyle were standing outside, taking it all in.

Eric was wearing his dark green hoodie and khakis, which exposed his tan, scrawny legs. He had black shades balanced precariously atop his black mop of hair despite the cloudy weather. He was twirling a ring of keys hanging from a lanyard around his finger nonchalantly.

Kyle had his brown hair slicked back out of his slightly reddened face and looked like he just got off from work, still wearing his white button-up shirt tucked into his black slacks along with his tie. He was grinning at Eric and chatting, probably about what they were hoping to find inside.

All in all, not at all attire one should wear when inspecting a shady, abandoned old building. At least they're wearing closed-toed shoes, you thought as you parked across from them, stepping out and finally getting a look at the building.

Just the state of the building itself could be its own haunted house. The bricks were a faded, dusty brown, and often had the occasional spatter of some unknown stain along the sides of the building. The sign at the top had been removed, or fallen off, ages ago, leaving a slightly lighter patch of brick where it once sat. There were wall-sized windows at the front of the building, but they were all boarded up with various warning and gang signs spray-painted onto them. Shattered glass littered part of the concrete walkway next to the entrance, where two pairs of double doors stood locked. The paint was chipped and the metal railings on either side were rusted and lopsided, as if something heavy had fallen against them and bent the metal.

"I don't even want to imagine what it'll look like inside," you groaned as you climbed out of your car.

The sound of your car door slamming shut brought the two gentlemen out of their reverie.

"Hey!" Eric hollered as he jogged over, still twirling the lanyard with the keys on it a little too close for your liking. "It's about time you got here, the dude came by with the keys over an hour ago! What took you so long?"

You crossed your arms and glowered at your friend. You had no idea how long he had been lurking outside, and despite the cloudy weather you thought he must be roasting in that hoodie of his. "For your information, I had to grab some last-minute supplies before we cracked the doors open. What the hell are you two wearing, anyway? Why did Kyle come here in his work clothes, he knows that he's going to get them dirty when we finally get inside."

Eric stopped twirling the lanyard, his chipper demeanor wilting under your scrutiny. "He got really excited and came here right after his shift ended. Can you blame him, though?" He looked back at the building longingly, bobbing on his heels, obviously eager to bust inside. He turned back to you and added "You said that we should wear clothes we won't care if they get dirty, so what's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "Eric, you're wearing khakis. Khakis won't protect your legs from any shards of glass or metal sticking out when we go inside, and seeing how freaking _old_ this building is-"

"Oh, come on, I'll be fine!" he cut in, whipping around and running towards the building and shouting "Now hurry up and _let's get this party started_!"

You let out a hefty sigh. He certainly hadn't changed, still as eager as ever to go charging into trouble.

Kyle walked over to you as you pulled some supplies from your car: dust masks, some washcloths, latex gloves, and a medicine kit (in case either of them got hurt doing something stupid), flashlights and batteries, and two rolls of paper, one of which detailing the map of the building.

"Sorry about him," he smirked, helping you bring out the supplies. "He's been here since the crack of dawn waiting for the guy to come over and hand over the keys to let us inside. I don't think he's even eaten today."

"Well it serves him right," you mutter irately, walking across the parking lot and avoiding the cracks in the pavement. "I emailed _both_ of you that I'd be here around 2, so it's not my fault he's half-starved and crazy. I just hope he doesn't end up breaking something or hurting himself when we get inside."

Kyle laughed, following you. "You haven't changed either, I see."

You glanced back at him with a glare, trying not to grin at the jab. "Don't you even start. You're just as bad as he is."

Kyle merely shrugged with an indifferent air. "Yes, but this time we had enough insight to contact you first before we did anything. That's gotta count for something, right?"

That was true enough. As kids, Eric would always hatch some hair-brained scheme, Kyle would encourage him, and it'd be up to you to find out where the screaming was coming from and either call for mom or call for an ambulance because one of them got stuck or hurt. Fifteen years and that still hadn't changed. You had always been the voice of reason in this group, but you went ignored a lot of the time, like when you suggested that making that paper mache costume in high school was a _really_ bad idea.

You still thought that the only reason they contacted you first was because any other sane person wouldn't want anything to do with them or this building. Any other person would turn tail and run away, you smirked as you walked up the ramp to the entrance.

Fortunately, Eric held some semblance of self-control and waited for the two of you to make it to the door before he unlocked it, and even calmed down long enough for you to force him to wear a dust mask. That didn't stop him from making Kyle start up a drumroll on the railing as he inserted the key into the lock and flung the doors open.

The inside wasn't as bad as you dreaded it would have been, but it was still dark and dusty as hell. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and you applauded yourself for thinking to grab dust masks and gloves. The three of you turned on your flashlights and got a proper look of the inside of the restaurant.

To your left was the front desk, and immediately beyond that was a turnstile, probably to check in how many people were in the party and to get their hands stamped before the kids were allowed to go charging through to the play area. Immediately adjacent to the front desk was the prize counter, its shelves empty save for the cobwebs weaved between the metal baskets where plush mascots and other prizes would have sat. Instead of being solid like the front desk, the counter was made of glass, like a display case, although the front had been shattered, leaving glass shards scattered haphazardly on either side.

To the right were numerous tables and a few booths, the red upholstery cracked and stained, with the occasional gap exposing rotting styrofoam padding. All of the chairs that would have been sat at the tables were removed, probably to be sold or destroyed, and half of the tables were gone too. Of what remained, only a few remained upright, the majority lopsided or completely flipped, their legs reaching towards the ceiling.

The tables and booths were all oriented to open towards the stage. The background used to have brightly-colored swaths of color and clouds to give off a happy vibe, but worn and dusty it was a ghost of its former glory. There were spotlights suspended on the ceiling, and when the restaurant had been running they would have been aimed towards the stage, but now many were aimed in random directions, and three or four had fallen and crashed to the floor, the glass from the lenses exploded outward from the impact. The wooden boards were rotted, and several gaps could be seen in the floorboards. It seemed any weight on the stage would cause a collapse into whatever space was below, along with more than a few splinters and scrapes on the way down. You gave Eric a verbal warning not to race up and prance on the stage, and watched him deflate as you predicted exactly what he was prepping to do.

Beyond the stage was a hallway that branched into three different directions. Straight ahead led to the bathrooms, while the other two led into areas you weren't sure of. Eric cracked a joke about investigating the bathrooms to see if any animatronics were hiding in there waiting for you to pass by before they jumped out, and was rewarded with a smack in the shoulder.

The walls, which might have been a cheery red years ago, were a sickly shade of yellow and in various stages of rot. Paint peeled and cracked all along the walls, and a few feet above the ground was a black-and-white checkerboard banner spanning all of the walls, but stopped once it got close to the stage. Some plastic pizzas and tattered posters hung from the walls haphazardly.

Kyle shone his flashlight towards the ceiling, and showed that the boards covering the ceiling were also rotting. The floor was linoleum with the same checkerboard pattern as the banner on the walls, and while it was cracked and appeared to be stained here and there, it didn't look it needed too much repair.

"Be careful walking in here, you guys," you warned as you moved past the turnstiles. "Watch for broken glass, and stay away from the parts of the ceiling where it's really cracked. I don't want either of you getting a concussion just trying to walk through here."

"Yessir!" Eric shouted with a mock salute before charging past the turnstile and ran for the hallways. "C'mon, Kyle! Let's see what these guys left behind!"

Kyle made a move to follow, but you grabbed his sleeve with two fingers while trying to keep ahold of your flashlight with the others. He looked back at you, crestfallen. You rolled your eyes and said simply, "Make sure he doesn't hurt himself. I'm going to try and find the security office to set up so we can talk layout and numbers." He grinned as you released his sleeve and he took off after Eric, whooping loudly.

Just like a bunch of kids, you think to yourself as you make your way down the middle hallway. It seemed appropriate that they would want to buy this building.


	3. Investigation

You were grateful that the movers had left a chair behind in the security office for you to set everything down on, after giving it a quick wipe to get rid of the dust. It was a standard office swivel chair, and while it looked torn in a few places and some of the stuffing peeked out, it suited its purpose. After setting everything down, you straightened your back and glanced at the desk.

A set of three bobbleheads of the mascots, Freddy Fazbear, Chica the Chicken, and Bonnie the Bunny, sat at the head, next to a dead fan, and gaps in the dust suggesting that there used to be papers sitting there until they were either removed or thrown away. Whatever electronics that were in this area were ripped out, you noted, judging by the amount of loose wires hanging dejectedly from the wall. Luckily for you, the desk was wide enough for you to spread the map of the building out without it hanging off of the edges, and after a quick wipe down, you spread out the map, using the bobbleheads and your flashlight as corner weights.

After setting up, you pulled out three pairs of latex gloves and slipped a pair on, not wanting to touch anymore dusty muck until you could wash your hands. No need to get dirtier than you needed to be, and if you were going to touch the map or anything delicate, you'd rather not leave smudges or stains.

Judging by the map, Eric had taken off towards the arcade room. No doubt he'd find something in there as a prop, you thought. Nothing says "spooky" like a glitching arcade game screen flashing spooky images as you walk past it, you chuckled to yourself.

Kyle would be making his way towards the repair depot. It was a decently-sized room, made for the animatronics to get repaired or cleaned. You doubted he'd find anything in there. The company would most likely have seized anything pertaining to the animatronics for the sake of company policy or something. Probably just to make sure no one could tamper with them if they were left behind, and animatronics weren't cheap to replace.

You sat down and made yourself comfortable. It was probably going to be a while before the two of them came back. You couldn't really blame them. This was like a dream come true for those two. They'd probably spend the better part of an hour searching through all of the rooms, trying to find dusty relics to put towards their "haunted house" idea. They had even come up with a name for the place: Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction".

Well, people will certainly know what they're in for, you smirked as you tried to picture the guys dressing up as the animatronics like they had in high school and scaring the patrons as they walked past. You had to be honest, you wouldn't mind paying to see that.

True to your prediction, it took the two nearly an hour before they made their way back to the security office. You were kind enough to shine your flashlight out towards the doorway so they could find their way instead of getting lost wandering the building. Kyle was the first one back, holding an empty Foxy the Pirate head and covered in dust and cobwebs. He looked like he had been dusting stuff off, judging by the mess on his clothes.

"Hey! Check out what I found!" he laughed, holding it up proudly like a trophy. It hung limply in his hands, its jaw flopping as he moved it to show you the inside. "There's a couple empty animatronic suits in the repair depot. Even though we can't wear them, I think we can set them up as props around the attraction, what do you think?"

Sure enough, there were still some metal beams and rods poking out and around the inside of the head. If Eric had tried it on, which you were pretty confident he would have, he would have been rewarded with more than a few cuts and scrapes and a possible headache. You had to admit, it was a good find. You would have thought they'd have taken all of the suits with them when they left. "Are they all in there?" you asked, taking the Foxy head from him to look at it yourself. The fact it was missing its eyes and all you saw were its empty sockets was a little unnerving.

"Yeah, all except the Golden Freddy one, but I wasn't sure if we'd find one of those in there anyway," he replied, trying to dust himself off and releasing small dust clouds with every pat. "But all the originals are in there. Bonnie, Chica, Freddy, even ol' Foxy here." He glanced at the flashlight, then turned to you. I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda startled by your flashlight when I first saw it lighting up the doorway," he chuckled.

"What, you thought I was an animatronic luring you into the office before I pounced on you and forced you into a suit?" You handed it back to him as you heard heavy footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

Eric came in, completely filthy. His green hoodie had turned brown from all the dust he had on him, and it looked like he had lost his shades. He was carrying a big cardboard box full of miscellaneous items, and you swore you saw a hook dangling from one of the edges.

"I had to push aside the arcade machines to get to this! It was hiding in the back!" he panted, setting it down on the desk, right on top of the map. You opened your mouth to chide him and to tell him to move the box off the map, but he saw the Foxy head and cut you off.

"Whoa, holy shit!" he exclaimed, snatching it from Kyle and looking at it. "Dude, we scored! Way to go!" he yelled as he highfived Kyle, then suddenly tried to put it on.

"Eric wait!" you shouted, snatching the head from him. "Look, you idiot, it's still got the metal beams and everything inside!" You turned the hole at the bottom of the head towards him so he could see what he very nearly forced onto his empty skull.

"Oh." Eric looked a bit sheepish, then grinned when he spotted the hook inside the box. He snatched the head back from you and grabbed the hook, holding the head in front of his face like a mask and waving the hook in the other. "Oooooh, don't yell at yer captain, lass, or I'll have you keelhauled!" he intoned with a pirate slur, and laughed as you snatched the hook from his hand and hit him with the arm of it.

"Very funny." You looked back at the box, still holding the hook. "What else is in here?"

"Eh, nothing interesting, really," Eric sighed, lowering the Foxy head and looking inside. "I found a weird paper-plate doll and an animatronic hand, but other than that all this stuff has is empty character masks. Not like Kyle's epic find," he smirked, tossing the head back to Kyle.

"I'm sure you'll find a use for this stuff somehow," you said as you picked up the box and placed it on the floor. "Now that you're finally back, I can get started talking with you guys about layout and hiring help to get this thing up and running."

You unrolled one of the rolls of paper you carried in with you, a super-thin sheet of tracing paper. You laid it out on top of the original map (Eric "kindly" offering the Foxy head as a weight for the last corner instead of your flashlight), took out a pencil, and traced out the outline of the building, leaving everything inside the building blank. "This is your attraction, so I have no idea how you want it to be laid out, so I'm leaving it up to you guys to decide between the two of you. What I _do_ suggest is that you leave the bathrooms alone until you can get a plumber in to remove the pipes and drain any water that's left in them so you won't have a mess."

You looked up at the two of them with a no-nonsense expression. "Don't go breaking down walls or busting up floorboards until you figure out _exactly_ how you want this thing to be laid out. You don't want to end up wrecking a wall you intended on keeping and making it cost more to replace or repair anything because you were careless."

"Sheesh, okay we get it!" Eric rolled his eyes and held up his hands in a calming gesture. "We're the ones sinking our money into this, we'll be smart about it, we promise."

Satisfied, you pulled out a notepad slip with a bunch of names and numbers scribbled onto it and several business cards and handed them to Kyle. "These are some people I recommend in helping you build the attraction. Don't go cheap and hire some idiot who doesn't know what they're doing, or you'll have me to hear from, got it?"

Kyle gave a nod of understanding, mentally noting the order in which to contact the people when construction would start before pocketing it.

"Is there anything _else_ you need before we can get you out of our hair?" Eric asked, clasping his hands behind his head in a carefree manner. Judging by the tone of his voice, it wasn't meant to be harsh, it was just him being impatient and wanting to explore the building without a chaperone breathing down his neck.

You smirked behind your dust mask. "Just one more thing. I want to make rounds of the building to make sure all the rooms are open so you don't have to worry about being denied access to any of the rooms." You noted the glint in his eyes as you continued, saying "I know you're eager to be treasure-hunting for props and memorabilia from this place, and I'd hate for any locked doors to hinder the hunt."

"Ha! Locked doors won't be any problem for us!" Eric reminded you, triumphantly pulling out the key ring on the lanyard.

"True," you agreed, "but it'd be nice to know what keys go where."

(Next chapter is where things start picking up, I promise.)


	4. Of Things Long Buried

Before the hunt began, you sent Kyle (who was the more reliable of the two) to go grab some flood lights and extra flashlights to help light up the building more while you and Eric began cleaning up the building. While he was out, you made sure to have him grab some lock-picking tools just in case any of the locks wouldn't open for any of the keys, as well as a box opener to open up anymore storage boxes the two of you may find while exploring.

Upon closer inspection of the windows, you thought it be in the best judgment to keep them boarded up. Not only because several of the windows were cracked or broken, but you mentioned it might also deter possible vandals or thieves who would try to sneak into the building after seeing the wooden boards taken down. Eric quickly agreed with you after mentioning that possibility, so the three of you would have to deal with being in the dark for a little while longer.

Kyle returned with the supplies shortly after you and Eric finished uprighting all of the tables and sweeping the glass out of the immediate walkway, and after a few minutes of unloading and setting up, the atmosphere was a little less scary, but more dreary now that the detail of decay was more visible. Kyle mentioned something about replacing the posters with copies not quite so run-down, but possibly sprayed with water to give them the old and color-bled appearance.

Eric found a table with a broken stand and proposed using the stand for one of the animatronic props. He was already envisioning which prop would go where and what walls would be busted down to make room for corridors and jumpscare spots, making broad, sweeping gestures as he chattered.

You were in the other part of the building, having already taken a snapshot of the map and following the paths. Eric relinquished the keys to you so you could write down the number of the key and the lock it corresponded to (after pouting for a bit until he realized he could start working on the new map layout while he helped Kyle).

You were just passing by the arcade room that Eric had been in earlier, when you stopped and zoomed in on your map. According to the map, there should have been another room between the arcade room and the security office. You looked up and around, but didn't see any open or closed doorways that indicated another room.

You walked back to the security office, looking at the map and making sure there wasn't an error, but according to the schematic, there _was_ supposed to be another room. Could you have just missed it?

You counted the steps from the security office to the arcade room. Then you recounted your steps as you returned from the arcade room to the security office, staring intently at the walls for any give that may have indicated a secret room. _That_ would make Eric freak out, you thought, but the humor was stifled with frustration. Where was this room?

You counted your steps one more time, and halfway down the hall, you stopped and stared at the wall where the room was _supposed_ to be. After a moment, you took a few steps forward, holding your gloved hand out towards the wall and gently touching it, feeling the uneven paint drag against your fingers. Then you started walking to the left, towards the arcade.

One step, two steps, three steps.

You dragged your fingers along the wall, feeling the paint flake and the dust wipe off as you walked.

Four steps. Five steps. Your fingers dragged until they encountered a smoother patch.

You immediately stopped and face the wall, passing your palm over it. Yes, there was definitely a difference in the texture of the wall here.

While the rest of the wall was aged and flaking, this area was a little smoother, and appeared slightly less aged than the rest of it. You stared for a moment, then raised your hand and knocked on the rough wall.

A hard, rapping knock sound. Your knuckles were scraped lightly from the roughness of the wall, but there was definitely brick behind it.

You did it again, then slid your hand over to the smoother part of the wall and knocked.

_Knock knock._

Hollow. Or at least, more hollow. It didn't sound like brick was behind this wall.

Part of you knew that you should probably call for Eric and Kyle, but you knew if you did one of them would probably forcibly break down the wall with a running charge, or hack at it with the box cutter until it came apart. This required an intelligent approach, not a neanderthal one. And if there was anything valuable behind this, all the more reason to be careful. You didn't want to break anything that was lying behind the wall.

You put the keys and the notepad into your pocket, and pulled out the box cutter. With the flashlight in one hand and the box cutter in the other, you felt along the wall again until you felt the rough wall give way to the smoother one. You placed the flat edge of the box cutter blade along the imagined rift, and after placing the flashlight in the crook of your neck and tilting your head to keep it in place, you jammed your open palm against the plastic end.

No give. You heard the clack of metal striking against brick, and knew you were too far to the right. Moving it a little more to the left, you tried again.

_Chfk._ This time the blade went through, and as you pulled it out, you saw the telltale signs of a false wall as the old spackling crumbled away from the thin hole. Now we're getting somewhere, you thought.

You placed the blade inside of the crack and dragged downwards. You met resistance, but it crumbled away as you pressed on, and soon the lower half of the wall had given way to your blade. Standing on your very tippy toes and using both hands while holding the flashlight in your teeth, you were able to clear the top half of the side , and as the wall began crumbling, it opened a small gap in between the false wall and whatever was behind it. Determined, you dug in with your fingers and began pulling sections off.

It was hard, and your fingers were worn and cut by the splinters and sections of the wall you pried off, but eventually your efforts were rewarded with a quarter of the middle removed, revealing an empty hole. Judging by the height and location of the hole, it would be where a doorknob should have been, but was removed. Shining your flashlight in the hole didn't reveal anything of what was inside.

Now was a good time to get Eric and Kyle, but when you opened your mouth to holler for them, you heard a shout and the sound of something crashing to the ground and glass shattering. One of them was laughing. It sounded like one of the stage lights fell and shattered. Or one of them bumped into something and knocked it over. Maybe it was better if you made this discovery yourself.

Seeing as you had nothing to jab into the hole, like a crowbar or something to help lever it open, you put your flashlight under your arm and stuck two fingers into the hole and gave an experimental tug. No give. You stuck a third finger from your other hand in and pulled harder. Still no give. The false wall was weak enough for it to have given way had the door be meant to swing outward, you thought.

Curious, and hoping your theory was correct, you pressed your shoulder up against the door and gave a gentle shove. You heard a soft crack as more of the wall came loose, and you were showered with spackling dust, giving you a small halo of dust and debris around your hair. You were right - the door opened inward. Lucky for you, you weren't sure if you'd be able to open it on your own if you had to pull it outwards.

You gave another shove, a little harder, and flinched as a bunch of the wall suddenly came crashing down on you. Fortunately it had as much weight as wet cardboard, but it was still hard, so it still hurt when it hit your head and shoulders on the way down, covering you in an even thicker white dust. You coughed and removed your gloves to wipe your eyes and get rid of the dust. While you chided yourself for not predicting that the wall would crumble on you, you were more curious as to why it was here in the first place. Taking the flashlight out from under the crook of your arm, you shone it into the room-

and nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw what was inside.

The first thing that assaulted your senses was a god-awful stench, like something had died in this room. It was wet and nauseating, and you had to fight the urge to wretch behind your dust mask. Looking inside, there was a table with strange stains on it, and the telltale checkerboard linoleum on the floor.

The second thing you noticed was the weird spatter streaks on the far wall, originating from the right side of the room, like something had exploded or someone had thrown a bucket of..._something..._at the wall, and whatever it was obscured much of the white tile on the right corner of the room. It was a sickly brown color, like dried pizza sauce or...

The story of the children that were stuffed into the animatronic suits came back, but you stamped it down. There's no way this was blood. Blood wouldn't have lasted for this long, it would have coagulated and rotted away.

The third thing that startled you, and nearly made you shriek in fright, was a pair of eyes staring at you from the corner of the room, at the epicenter of the spatter.

When you shined your flashlight onto it, the eyes belonged to a very old, worn, golden bunny suit.


	5. Memories

_The last thing I felt was the pain._

_Hot, piercing, agonizing pain._

_As if I had been pierced with a thousand knives._

_Heh, which wouldn't be too far from the truth. _

_The pain turned cold, and with it, came a numbness._

_I knew I was dying. There was no two ways about it._

_I could feel the stares of those damned kids watching me as I collapsed to the floor. Their tears were black against their pallid skin as they watched. Silent. _

_They had chased me into this room, damn them. All emotional about their deaths. Why couldn't they have just died and disappeared, damn it!_

_I thought I could scare them away if I climbed into one of the suits. Freak those little fuckers out._

_I didn't have my Freddy suit handy, but lucky me, there was a Spring Bonnie suit here in the back room, ready for use._

_I must have missed the memo. Or maybe I just jostled the suit too much._

_I heard the blood spatter against the walls and pour onto the floor in sickening plops. I took a knee on the way down, still seeing and feeling everything. I couldn't scream, yell, not even a grunt. Not that anyone would have heard. By the time they found me in the morning I'd be long gone. I finally collapsed, and my I blacked out. This must be the end._

_Or so I had hoped. Those brats were spiteful little shits._

_I was _stuck_ in that room. It felt like an eternity. I had no idea how long I was in there. _

_I was vaguely aware of hearing something about "budget cuts" and that the room was going to be sealed off. Which meant I was going to be sealed in for who knows how long until the building was demolished or some shit._

_I made a mental note to personally strangle the guy behind sealing up the room._

_Moving wasn't an option. _

_For a while, anyway._

_I can't explain how the hell it happened, but after a while I started getting..."feeling"...back in my limbs. The only way to describe it was like phantom limb syndrome. You would feel that something was there, but it really wasn't. For me, something was there, but I didn't recognize the limb as my own._

_It took me a while to notice it, and even longer to figure out how to control it. _

_It started with the tips of my fingers, and then I could manage to twitch._

_A little longer and I could clench my fists._

_Even longer and I could blink. Not that there was much to look at, in a pitch-black room. _

_It felt like eternity before I could start moving my arms and legs, but not enough to do anything other than twitch and shake. It was infuriating, but I had all the time in the world. It wasn't like anyone was gonna miss me now that I was gone. I worked for the company long enough to know how easy it was to make someone disappear. Never thought I'd be one of those people, though._

_I thought I was hallucinating a few times, seeing the ghosts of those damn kids every now and then. Other times I thought I could hear screaming and something being dragged down the hallway. Those were my favorite, and I relished in the moment when it happened even though I didn't know what was happening. It was even better when the poor victim was kicking and screaming, or pleading for mercy. It wasn't any fun when they were quiet. I couldn't remember when they stopped._

_I had managed to get the feeling back in most of my new "body". I couldn't stand up yet, but I could at least move my arms and legs to a degree. I held onto the hope that if I could get the rest of the feeling back in my limbs, I could stand up and break down a wall and break out. The pain wasn't there anymore, which was good because I didn't think I'd be able to handle that without going insane. Or maybe I already was. It would certainly explain the voices and the damned hallucinations._

_So when I saw the crack of light coming from the wall to my left, I thought it was just another hallucination. I had given up on the idea of being discovered ages ago._

_But instead of the light going away, it got bigger. A trickle of light filtered through, shaking this way and that as the source moved. I heard something crash in the distance, and laughter. After nothing but silence for so long, it was good to finally hear something. _

_More sounds of something cutting and being torn away. Dust filtered through the crack as it got longer and wider. I saw a flashlight shine through the hole where the doorknob used to be, and then go away._

_The light shook, and I saw some fingers poking through the hole and clench the door. Another grunt, more dust. They must have figured out the door doesn't swing outward-yup, there was the thud of a body slamming against the door. More of the wall caved in, and there was a short pause. I heard a thud and someone coughing. At this point I was staring intently at the door, waiting for the person to burst through. Part of me hoped that it was that bastard who decided to have me sealed in here in the first place to make good on my promise to strangle him-_

_The person crashed through, and I heard a sharp gasp as they finally got a good look at what was in the room. I kept absolutely still, staring right into the light of the flashlight. Something told me this wasn't the same person from before. The way they were dressed...they clearly weren't part of the company. They looked a bit young to work here anyway, unless they were a bus boy or server. Certainly not one of the folks that worked in the kitchens making the food or manning the desks._

_I couldn't help but grin to myself when I saw how startled they looked when they finally saw me. It took me back to the expressions those kids made when I finally cornered them, that look of utter horror. It was delightful to see. It made me hope I could tease a few screams out of them, and judging by the look on their face, it wouldn't be too hard. I could only imagine what I looked like to them, having sat in this room for so damn long._

_The person looked ready to bolt, but slowly started creeping forward, trying to avoid the stains on the floor. They were covered in dust and debris, which was kinda cute. They had gone through all that trouble to get into my room. It was touching, almost heartwarming. Too bad mine had rotted away ages ago._

_I had to force myself to keep staring in the direction they came from as they walked closer, flashlight clutched tightly in one hand as they stuffed something long and rectangular into their pocket. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them crouch and reach out a hand. They wiped some dust off my shoulder. Probably thought I would bite their hand if they stuck it too close to my face. They wouldn't have been wrong._

_"Man, you look like you've been here for a pretty long time, huh?" they said quietly, mostly to themselves but it could have been considered a question aimed at me._

_You had no idea._

(Author's note: I'll be using italicized paragraphs for Springtrap's POV, to keep it from being confusing when multiple characters are speaking.)


	6. Still Alive

The last thing you were expecting to find in this room was an animatronic, much less one that was staring right at you. You calmed down after a second when you saw it wasn't moving, and mentally kicked yourself in the head when you realized it wouldn't be going anywhere anyway. The A.I. either went out or malfunctioned, otherwise it would have tried to break down the door or bang on the walls or something. When the guys heard this thing had been hiding in here, they were gonna freak out.

Aiming your flashlight to the floor, you carefully stepped around the mess that apparently came from this corner of the room and made your way to the animatronic.

Seeing it close up...it was almost pitiful. It had gaping holes where the fabric and coverings has rotted or been eaten away, exposing much of the internal circuitry. Much of it was covered in rust, and it appeared heavily aged. You didn't recall the guys mentioning anything about a golden rabbit animatronic, and the only other one you could think of that had holes in it was Foxy the Pirate, but even he wasn't in this bad a state of disrepair. It looked like Bonnie, but the fur was a dingy yellow, a far cry from the purple fur of the original. The ears were drooped, and half of one had rotted completely, leaving a stub. Wires poked out of its head, and the lips had cracked and peeled back to expose the teeth, which also looked rotten.

The most horrifying thing about it was the fact its eyes seemed to be bloodshot. You knew that was impossible, but there was no other word to describe the way the black lines traced and cracked over the ghostly white orbs. The eyes were even more unnerving. They had no color whatsoever, with black irises and white pupils that seemed to glow in the darkness of the room.

You crouched down, putting the box cutter in your pocket and peering at the animatronic. It must have been stuck in this room for years, you thought, based on the dust and the damage. You reached out a hand and gently wiped some dust off of its right shoulder, feeling the rough texture of the aged material scrape against your fingertips.

"Man, you look like you've been here for a pretty long time, huh?" you asked, mostly trying to settle the momentary panic you had a minute ago while reassuring yourself that it couldn't answer back.

It still begged the question, why was it in here in the first place? It must have been sealed in here by accident, normally things like this would be put into storage. Maybe someone forgot it was still in here when they sealed the room.

You couldn't help but grimace when the stench came back full force, and you hated to admit it but you thought it was coming from the animatronic itself. It would certainly explain why it was sealed up in here, though it didn't explain why it wasn't just incinerated. No way they would let this thing near the kids smelling like that.

"Yo!"

You nearly flinched when you heard Eric hollering your name and looked towards the door.

"Hey, where are you at? Did an animatronic steal you away and put you in a suit? We can't use it if it has blood on it, you know!"

You knew he was just messing with you, but being so close to this rundown animatronic didn't make it funny.

"No, I'm still here!" you shouted, moving your dust mask off of your face and starting to stand up. "I found somethi-"

You were cut off with a shout of surprise when something suddenly grabbed your left wrist as you were standing up. The flashlight fell from your hand and cracked against the linoleum, making the light flicker and fade.

The yelp turned into a scream when you saw the eyes had turned and were staring right at you, and its grip on your wrist tightened.


	7. Close Call

_Turned out I was right after all. It wasn't that hard to make them scream after all. _

_I heard a voice shout what must have been their name, because they turned their attention to the door. Then they made to stand up._

_I reached out and grabbed their wrist as they stood. If I couldn't make my legs obey me, then maybe they could help me up. _

_It sparked the intended reaction. They screamed and instinctively pulled their arm backwards towards themselves, but I tightened my grip. I was lifted up a few inches, but not enough to get my footing. It was, however enough for them to lose theirs as I sat back down. I forgot how heavy these suits could be._

_When I fell back to my original position, they tottered forward and nearly fell on top of me as they were pulled forward. They thrust out their right hand and slapped it against the wall to stop themselves. The look on their face was priceless. _

_This time they dug their feet into the tile, grabbed my hand with their free one, and leaned back with their full body weight, trying to pry my hand off and get away. They started screaming for help again, frantic to pry my hand off. It was only when they started throwing their weight into it that I started lifting up from the floor again. This time I was able to position my feet to lever myself up in a semi-standing position, and finally relinquished my hold on their wrist. _

_They fell back with a heavy thud that probably knocked the wind out of them. It took them a moment to regain their footing as they scrambled to stand, backing away as I towered over them._

_I could hear footsteps coming down the hallway towards the room. Their friends were probably coming to see what the screaming was about. Now standing, I saw their eyes dart from me to the open doorway, and predicted what they were probably going to do next. I moved first._

_I tried to take a step forward, but it was much like walking with your legs asleep. You couldn't feel them, so you couldn't quite control them. I ended stumbling and throwing my left hand out towards the door frame. Luckily for me I had predicted right. They made a dash towards the door in an attempt to throw it open and take off down the hall, but I reached it first, slamming it shut with my left hand as they skidded to a stop. My other hand slammed into the wall to catch myself, and landed right beside my apparent rescuer. They let out another terrified shriek as I cornered them against the door, throwing their arms up to shield themselves._

_It felt good to stand again. Now I could finally take a good, long look at my new "friend". _

This was it.

You were going to die right here.

You've never been so fucking terrified in your entire life.

You could hear Kyle shouting your name and Eric racing down the hall towards the door. But with this psycho animatronic holding the door shut and pinning you against it, there was no way they'd be able to get it open to save you.

You stared in horror into the cracked eyes of the animatronic, the only light given off in the room now that you dropped your flashlight. It stood a full head taller than you, holding its head just a few inches from your face. You remembered the stories about the Bite of '87 and prayed to god you wouldn't be a repeat of the event.

It didn't move for a few moments, as if it was studying you. Its eyelids slowly came halfway down its eyes, giving a horrific mimicry of a leer as it tilted its head, still staring. The angle you saw his mouth made it look like it was open in a grotesque smile.

You tensed, helpless and only able to watch as it seemed to ponder what to do with you next. From this close, the stench was almost unbearable. You had to fight the slowly increasing nausea rising up in your stomach as fear made your mind go completely numb. In a desperate attempt to shove it off, you pushed your arms up against its chest, but it didn't budge.

You heard your name again, much closer this time, and felt the door being banged on behind you. You felt fingers catching on your shirt as one of them forced his fingers through the doorknob hole and tried to pull it open, to no avail. When it brushed against the animatronic's hand, it glanced down momentarily, watching it suddenly withdraw. You heard Eric exclaim "What the fuck?!" and Kyle shouted your name again, panic in his voice as he demanded what was happening behind the door.

Then it opened its mouth, wider than it should have been able to, and let out an ear-splitting, horrific screech. You couldn't help but scream in response, the sound resonating around the room. You squeezed your eyes shut, and in adrenaline-fueled terror, mustered up your strength and shoved it as hard as you could, sending it staggering backwards and knocking against the table. You gasped in pain as you felt your arm catch on the exposed metal in its chest, tearing a gash up your forearm, but you were past caring.

The instant it was clear you ripped the door open and bolted through, barreling right into Eric and knocking the two of you onto the linoleum.

Before Eric could get his wind back and ask what the hell was going on, you whipped your head around and shouted at Kyle, _"Shut it!"_

Kyle swiftly grabbed ahold of the hole and yanked the door shut, yanking his hand away as soon as it closed to save his fingers.

You rolled off Eric and managed to stand, staggering back until you were leaning against the wall as you clutched your arm and tried to control your breathing before you descended into a full on panic attack.

Eric stood, rubbing where you had collided with him and getting enough of his breath back to yell at you.

"What the _fuck_ was that?!"


	8. A Little Misunderstanding

"Calm down, Eric-" Kyle started, trying to calm him down, but Eric cut him off.

"What the fuck were you doing, charging out of there?! And what the _hell_ was that screech we-" he stopped his tirade once he noticed the blood dripping down your arm.

You couldn't answer, practically sobbing for breath as you tried to get ahold of yourself. You were positive that experience took a few years off your life. You backed up against the wall, trying to find your voice as you watched the door intently in case the animatronic tried to come out. For a moment all you could manage was a croak and desperate arm motions for them to get away from the door as you fought the sudden urge to throw up.

Kyle ran over to you, grabbing your arm to get a better look at the bloody cut as Eric walked over, still rubbing his chest. "Okay, calm down, we'll take you into the security office to get you bandaged up-"

"Hold up, what the _hell_ was in that room?!" Eric yelled, cutting him off again and pointing at the door. "Why'd you go exploring some super secret room without telling us?! What made you get all banged up like that?!"

Kyle released your arm and glared at Eric. "Now is really not the time to be interrogating-"

Both of them shut up when you grabbed their collars and gave a sharp yank. The look on your face brooked no argument or outburst.

Now that you had their attention, and your breath back, you spoke slowly and clearly to make sure they understood what you were going to say next.

"I went into that room...and I was attacked by an animatronic."

A stunned silence filled the room for a full minute as what you said sunk in.

Eric reacted first. Predictably.

"There was a fucking _animatronic_ in there?!" he exclaimed, whatever concern or anger he had replaced with incredulous joy. Even Kyle was too stunned to answer at first, but even he was caught up in his excitement enough to momentarily forget the mortal danger you were just in. This was the discovery they were hoping to make.

"Wait, which one was it?" he asked, turning back at you and completely missing the look on your face.

"Yeah, which one?" Eric asked, turning to look back at you with anticipation written all over his face.

"Will you two _fucking listen to me?!_" you raged, giving their collars another harsh yank, only releasing them because it hurt your arm too much. "It grabbed me and pinned me against the door! I thought it was going to kill me!"

That brought the two of them out of their reverie. "Is that how your arm got scratched?" Kyle asked, watching as you gripped it hard to make the pain and the bleeding stop. You nodded through gritted teeth, staring at the door. No sound had come from it this entire time. Whatever it was hadn't tried to leave. Maybe you knocked something loose when you shoved it into that table, but at that point you couldn't give a shit if you had damaged it or not.

Eric pulled out his flashlight and advanced towards the door. "Well, it's quiet now, so maybe it malfunctioned and went back to sleep or something."

"Eric wait, _don't_-" you reached out to try and stop him but Kyle held you back, partly for your protection but mostly so he could watch and see what would happen.

Eric paused in front of the door for a second, before reaching out and very slowly pushing the door inward. You could see him grimace once the smell hit him and the door swung all the way inside.

The animatronic was where it had fallen, sitting and leaning against the front of the table. This time its eyes didn't move to register the light being shone in its face. Probably faking it, you thought bitterly, just like it had when you had first entered the room.

As he examined it, Eric whistled, holding a hand up to his nose and mouth as his flashlight showed the extent of the decay. As it was, it was a miracle it could even stand up, let alone walk. Kyle walked over towards the door, leaving you refusing to budge from your position against the far wall. "You recognize it?"

"Not at all, man." He shone his flashlight around the room, taking note of the weird stains on the wall and floor as well as the thick layer of dust that coated everything. "None of the stories mentioned a golden bunny. Wasn't there a golden Freddy at the first place before it shut down and the company renamed it?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Who knew golden Freddy had a brother!" he said, laughing at his own joke.

Eric chuckled with him. "Go get a trolley or something to wheel him out of here. We should get someone to take a look at him and get him cleaned up before he's put in the attraction."

Kyle raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you were the grease monkey here."

"Hey man, I don't know the first thing about animatronics. If this guy was the cause behind that screech we heard earlier, his voice box is probably shot, and there's no telling how many other repairs he'll need." He shined the light back on the animatronic, pondering. "Not that I wouldn't mind taking a chance and cracking this guy open, seeing as it's a huge company secret and shit." That and they both knew it'd be a _golden_ opportunity to see if a kid's corpse was really inside the suit.

You stayed where you were, staring past the two into the room, watching intently for it to make a move. It hadn't budged so much as an inch during their entire conversation. Maybe it was just waiting for them to look away before it would rear up and pounce on them or something. For a moment you wished you had something heavy to bash its stupid head in with.

_Man those two could chatter. I tuned out most of their talking, occasionally picking up the odd snatch of a word. My interest was piqued at the mention of an "attraction", but they didn't go into any more detail than that. I didn't like the idea of them cracking me open, especially considering my corpse was still stuck inside this suit, but until I could move on my own I couldn't stop them from trying._

_Then I spotted you against the far wall, clutching your bloody arm as you glared right at me. Oh, what I would give to be able to smile, seeing that. It was amusing to watch you stand there, fuming. Whatever you had shouted to them earlier must have went over their heads, judging by the look on your face._

_"We'll get a trolley later," the man in the suit said as he turned away from the doorway. "We can leave the door open and get some fans to air out the room and hopefully get rid of the smell." I watched as they gently herded you in the direction of the office while the other one switched his flashlight off, pocketing it as he turned and shut the door, leaving me in the dark again._

_It didn't bother me as much this time. I knew that there were people here now, and that they planned on bringing me out to examine me later. It didn't sound like they were planning on scrapping me._

_I was curious as to what kind of "attraction" I would be put up in._

_Whatever it was, I hoped there would be lots of people attending._

_Lots of parents and their kids._

_Just the thought of it made me nostalgic all over again._

**...(later, back in the office)...**

"So let me get this straight: you stood up, it grabbed your wrist, you managed to pull it up to its feet, and then it pinned you against the door?"

"_God,_ it sounds so freaking obscene when you say it like that! _Stop laughing!_"

That particular outburst was aimed at Kyle, who went from quiet snickering to full on laughter at Eric's summary of events. He had to put down the washcloth for a second to compose himself.

You snatched the washcloth from him and continued wiping down the cut. It wasn't deep, which you were grateful for, but it had bled and stung like hell. Kyle had sat you down and had been trying to help you clean it when Eric started peppering you with questions.

"But that's pretty much what happened, right?" Eric suppressed a giggle, but he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth turning up into a grin. You threw the washcloth at him angrily.

"It wasn't like that!" you fumed as Kyle grabbed your arm again to apply disinfectant. You winced from the burn, but he held your arm firmly against your leg so you couldn't pull away.

"Regardless of what happened, you shouldn't do anything strenuous with this arm until that cut heals." Kyle ripped open some gauze pads and gently pressed them along the length of the cut before pulling out a roll of gauze.

"No shit," you replied irritably. "It's bad enough I almost get killed helping you guys uncover some psychotic animatronic from a cursed pizzeria, now I have to try to hide this so my boss doesn't find out and send me home until it heals."

"That might not be a bad idea, actually." Kyle looked up from bandaging your arm with a rather serious expression. "There's no telling how long that thing's sat in there, or what germs or bacteria it might have crawling in that suit, so you should watch it for the next few days to make sure it doesn't get infected."

"Kyle's right, dude," Eric piped in. "We're depending on you to give us the all-clear on this place! We still have to clean the place up and set up for everything, but you're the only one that can give us the clearance to open it up to the public!"

Good to see he had his priorities straight, you thought, annoyed. "You better make sure that _thing_ gets fixed before then. If he attacks someone during the event, you're both going to be in _really_ big trouble."

"I'm sure it didn't mean to hurt you," Eric mused, stroking his chin stubble in thought. "All the stories are about how the animatronics killed people...maybe he was just so happy to see you that he got over-excited and tackled you!"

That earned another chuckle from Kyle and a dirty glare from you.

"You can't be serious."

"Sure I am! If I was locked up in a room for forever, I'd tackle my savior too!" He turned and grinned at you with a shrug. "Maybe he wanted to give you a hug."

"Then what the hell was that screech?!" you demanded.

Another shrug. "His voice box was probably busted, so when he tried to say thanks he could only screech!"

You put your face in your hands, exasperated. "You're reading way too much into this. It's not like the robot's _alive_ and can think."

"As far as we know, anyway."

_"Eric!"_

"Alright, that's enough," Kyle chuckled, standing up from the chair and closing the medicine kit. "We can take care of it from here, and I _promise_ fixing the animatronic will be one of the first things we do." Eric bobbed his head up and down in agreement, already eager to get back to work.

You sighed and rose from the chair. "Fine. You guys have the numbers I gave you earlier, so just give me a call when it's all finished and you're ready to open to the public, or if you have any questions."

As you walked to the door to leave, a thought struck you that you felt you should mention.

"Guys? I know you're psyched about this building and everything, but since you're going to have a lot of people coming in and out, you should probably hire a security guard to make sure nothing gets stolen or anything. This building was closed down for a while, so I wouldn't be surprised if people got curious and tried to sneak in or something."

"Yes, yes, we get it, now go home and rest," Kyle urged, smiling.

After you left, Eric leaned in and whispered to Kyle, grinning.

"Maybe we could use 'goldie' as a security guard and make him eat whoever tries to break in."

Kyle smirked and replied, "Or maybe he could hug them to death."

They both laughed.

(Sorry for the late update! College finals came up. The next few chapters will be uploaded much sooner, I promise.)


	9. New Security

The paper had mentioned a temp job as a security guard for some upcoming horror house, and it offered a little more than minimum wage. Despite the initial confusion of a horror attraction in late August, I'd only be there for a week or two, and that was more than I could have asked for. Floating from paycheck to paycheck was not the lifestyle I had really planned for, but until I could get a steady, decent-paying job, this was what I was stuck with.

Pulling up to the building, I saw a bunch of other vans and people in orange vests and hard hats carrying things in and out of the building. Three of them were off to the side, replacing what appeared to be a shattered pane of glass with a newer one. Several other men were removing the twisted metal railings from either side of the entrance, most likely to be replaced also. Another small group were sandblasting the side of the building to remove some layers of offensive graffiti, and a fellow with a stepladder was installing a security camera on the top corner of the building.

Through the glass, I saw it was crazy inside. Cleaning crews were clearing the rubble from walls that were taken down while others were putting new ones up, although it looked just as crappy as the rest of the building. Whatever they were using didn't look new, or clean. Judging by what the rest of it looked like inside, I figured it was probably to keep to the overall theme of the attraction.

I walked up to a man talking into a walkie-talkie, and managed to get his attention just as he finished directing whoever was on the other line. " I'm looking for-" I pulled out the newspaper clipping "-Kyle Stanson and Eric Miles?"

"Ah, you're the new security guard, huh?" the man asked, looking me up and down with an expression I couldn't read. "They'll be in the security room, at the back of the building. Watch yourself in there, we still have construction going. Still need to do something about those ceilings..."

"Alright, thank you." As I walked towards the entrance I pulled out my cell phone and checked the time. 2:07pm. I was late. Hopefully they wouldn't notice.

Inside was loud, crowded, and hard to breathe in. Several fans were going in odd areas of the room to try and air it out while the workers cleared stuff out and hauled stuff in. Dodging through the crowd I slowly made my way through the building, catching glimpses of items here and there. The main room was being cleared out, the walls taken down to make it smaller for the rooms adjacent to it. Loud drilling could be heard coming from the area where the bathrooms were, most likely the plumbing being removed.

Taking a peek into the room where the arcade used to be, I spotted a few dusty arcade machines, all unplugged. They had the Fazbear characters on them, but it was obvious they were aged. I wondered if they even functioned anymore. It was amazing they were still here to begin with. The company would have put them in storage or sold them, otherwise.

Passing by the arcade, I thought I heard conversation over the raucous noise of construction. Walking towards it, I was about halfway down the hall when I saw something peculiar on the wall.

It was a padlock. Holding what appeared to be a very crudely slashed-out outline of a door shut. The work looked far from professional, like someone had just carved the square from the wall. Even the tile banner was cracked around where it had been sealed, broken in the places where it would swing open. The area where the doorknob would be was filled in, judging by the fresh spackling. It was probably just some storage space, I thought. They'd seal it up after they finished working on the rooms.

Continuing past the oddity, as I got closer to the security office, I could start hearing snatches of conversation.

"-ten minutes late, I'm _telling_ you, man, he's not coming-"

"Don't be so pessimistic, he's just a little late-"

"I told you that ad wouldn't-"

The last bit was cut off as I passed by the long window of the office. Peering inside, I saw two men, one sitting in a swivel chair, the other standing with a clipboard. The man holding the clipboard wore a white button-up shirt and a loosened red tie, his slacks crumpled and slightly dusty. The man who was sitting was lounging in the chair, leaning back as far as he could with his hands clasped behind his head. He also wore a white button-up, but had a stained black jacket covering most of it. Instead of slacks, he wore dark blue denim jeans, which was also dirty.

"Uh, hi," I said as I walked through the open doorway. "Sorry I'm late, finding parking was chaotic with all the construction going on." I hoped they would accept that, since I had actually raced over from another interview at another place for the daytime. If I got this job I'd only get some snatches of sleep in between jobs, but I didn't really have a choice. Rent wasn't going to pay itself.

"Eh, don't worry about it," the one sitting in the chair stood up and shook my hand. I'm Eric, and that's Kyle. Glad you could answer our ad. We were worried nobody'd show up. What's your name?"

"Uh, Thomas Grier," I replied, then looked back at Eric. "Just a question, why'd you need a security guard all of a sudden?"

Eric gave an irritated sigh. "Well we _had_ a security system in place earlier, but it was just one of those cheap alarm systems. Didn't stop whoever bashed in the front window, though when the alarm sounded it must've spooked them and they took off." His expression darkened slightly as he continued. "Just as we were working on replacing the window, they hit _again_ and stole the security alarm, as well as a few decorations that are going to be damn near impossible to replace."

"We were lucky that they hadn't stolen anything _important_, or we really would have been screwed," Kyle interjected, and Eric glanced at him with a knowing look. I remembered the padlock I saw in the hall, and figured whatever they were talking about had been locked up in there.

"So, that's where you come in," Eric continued, looking back at me. "We went all out and installed security cameras outside as well as inside, but you'll only have to worry about the ones on the inside."

I must have looked confused, because he continued. "If any burglars or whatever don't get spooked by the alarm and get inside, it's your job to beat them up! Or at least hold 'em until the cops get here. Also when the attraction's up, you'll be the one checking and making sure people are moving through the attraction and not writing graffiti, stealing props, or making out in the corner." The last part he said with a grin. "But the attraction's not gonna open for another two months, so just make sure nothing gets stolen in the meantime. Not too hard, right?"

I shook my head. Sounded easy enough. Hopefully I wouldn't encounter any determined burglars. I didn't like the idea of getting shot or stabbed on the job.

"Good! But before we officially hire you, we need you to sign a contract for us," the other man approached me with the clipboard and a pen.

"A contract?" I took the pen and clipboard and skimmed it.

"Nothing too serious, just making sure you agree to protect the premises, don't go stealing stuff, pay for anything that you damage in case there's a scuffle, gag order and liability waiver-"

"Whoa whoa wait, what?" I stopped and stared at him at the mention of the last two.

"Well the liability waiver is so we don't get sued in case a burglar _does_ come barging in here," Eric explained. "We can barely afford the building as it is, not to mention all of the work that's going on to make it ready for the big event, so we can't afford to pay for hospital bills or funerals or whatnot in case anything happens. You understand, right?"

I frowned, more than a little disturbed. This...was not what I thought I was signing up for. I thought it'd be just a simple security temp job, but they way they made it sound I was signing up for was a life-or-death matter.

I needed the money though, and with any luck the cameras and the alarm would set off any would-be burglars coming to try and steal anything. "Okay, I understand that...but the gag order?"

"Oh that." Kyle rubbed the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Y'see, we've got a _really_ big surprise in store for the people who come to the attraction, but we don't want word getting out and ruining it, or having it stolen in case somebody comes looking for it. That's why we have that gag order in there, to make sure nobody goes and talks about anything that might happen in the building. We'd prefer to keep it between the three of us, if you catch my drift."

_That_ sounded even more suspicious. So they had some big project for the attraction, but not only was I not allowed to talk about it, I wasn't allowed to talk about anything that happened in the building _period_. This practically screamed dangerous business practice, but I was desperate.

"I...guess it's fine." I gave a small shrug and signed the document before handing it back over to Kyle.

"Good answer! You're hired!" Eric cheered, fist-pumping the air in a manner that didn't really scream professional.

Kyle seemed pleased too. "Don't worry about it too much. Chances are this'll be the easiest job ever. And since daylight robberies don't seem very likely, we'll just have you guard the building at night, from 12am to 6am. One of us will be here after our shifts are over to watch the building and manage it while construction's going on in the daytime. That sound reasonable?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. If I got the other job, I'd be working from 2pm till 10pm, and in between I could snatch some sleep and eat. It wouldn't be glamorous, but I could make the rent.

I thought for a second about the "surprise" they mentioned. Eric must have seen my questioning look, and beat me to the punch. "We'll update you on the progress of the 'surprise' once we finish tweaking a few things. Just make sure that bolted room stays locked, okay?" I gave a nod, and he grinned.

"Glad to have you aboard."


	10. The Game Begins

The first two weeks weren't too bad. The rest of that day was the two giving me a tour of the building and showing me how the layout would look. I got a small computer in my office to check the cameras with, and they said something about installing a ventilation system later. No doubt it'd get hot in the office, and they wouldn't want me passing out from heat stroke, they joked.

Nothing happened in those two weeks, luckily. I was exhausted by the time I came from my second job to the location, and they handed me a copy of the keys as I walked inside to stare at cameras and darkness for hours on end, but it was better than the alternative. The outside cameras must have done the trick, because I heard a few cars coming and then leaving the first few days on the job.

As the weeks dragged on, I would come in and see decorations put up that I hadn't seen the night before. It was...oddly disturbing to see. Disembodied heads lying in the hallway, heads hanging from a ceiling with a light shining out of an eye socket, propped up mannequins of the characters standing, staring down the hallway. I had been told they were from an old animatronic franchise that had shut down, and that's what inspired the horror attraction. Researching the franchise proved to be a mistake. I couldn't shake the feeling of unease when I found out I was guarding a building where children had supposedly been murdered in.

Now I liked to think I'm not a superstitious man. I didn't believe in spirits or ghosts haunting places where they were murdered, and all those shows about ghost hunters and supernatural séances I thought were a load of crap. It just felt...wrong to turn it into an attraction, that was all. Even if they were murdered or not, it wasn't the kind of thing I was comfortable with. It seemed...sacrilegious, somehow.

But during my fourth week on the job, as I was sitting at the desk and looking through the cameras, I saw something.

It happened at 2am. I had switched over to CAM 10, doing my nightly rounds, when I saw something taking up over half of the screen. Whatever it was looked old and charred, like it had been in a fire or something. It looked like a face, and as I stared at it a little longer I thought I could see...eyes. The pupils were huge, and they were staring right at the camera, as if staring through it at me.

Freaked out, I put the camera down, and it was suddenly in the room with me.

Its eyes weren't huge anymore. They were wide open and black, with tiny white irises and pupils, and a horrific toothy smile. It looked like a small boy with a beanie, with a bowl-cut and wearing a shirt and overalls, but the color was awful. It looked old and faded to nearly black, with stains like from a fire or something all over it.

I only got a glance at it when it suddenly let out a shriek and leaped towards me. I screamed and threw my arms up over my face as there was a flash of white, and whatever it was disappeared.

I kept my arms up for a full minute before I slowly lowered them back down and looked around. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I realized how hot it was in the room all of a sudden. I forced myself to try and calm down and rationalize what I just saw. It was probably just a hallucination, caused from the heat. They were still working on getting the ventilation system up.

Just as I was calming down and continuing my rounds, I heard a loud _BANG_ and the sound of something cracking and cluttering on the tile. It scared the shit out of me, and it sounded close. I whipped through the cameras, trying to find where it had come from, until I hit CAM 02.

That camera was the only camera that I could see the padlocked door from. The lock had been broken and fallen off the door, and it was swung wide open.

I whipped through the cameras again, freaking out. It must have been a burglar, but how the hell did they get past the cameras without so much as a glance?! I _knew_ I hadn't missed them because I had checked that camera _just_ a moment ago before that..._hallucination_ thing attacked me.

If it _was_ a burglar, I thought, I'd have to find them before they stole anything. I just hoped they weren't armed.

All I had to defend myself was a steel flashlight, which while it was heavy and good for a blunt weapon, would do nothing if they had anything ranged, like a gun. I swore for not getting something like a taser or pepper spray or something. It was all I had to work with, so I stepped out of the office, flashlight in hand, and made my way through the halls.

For a while, the only sounds I heard were the sound of my own footsteps. God it was creepy to walk through these hallways in the middle of the night. The lighting was horrific, just enough for people to make your way through but just dark enough for it to be the most creepy atmosphere as they saw the props on the walls. I hoped whoever was stalking through the building was as creeped out as I was.

I made my way towards where the padlocked door had been opened. I didn't see any tool marks that suggested a break-in, like a crowbar or a screwdriver. In fact, there was a sizeable dent in the door. It was on the _inside_ of it, however, which made the outside part bulge. The door had swung the wrong way, indicated by the twisted hinges. The only way I could describe it was that someone, or some_thing_, had kicked the door out from the _inside_ of this room.

That should have been impossible. There weren't any vents or entryways from this room, or anywhere near here. Unless they tunneled in from underground, which was impossible without making any noise. This left the obvious question: _what the hell had been in here?_

I wiped the sweat off my brow. Heat could explain the weird hallucination I had, but a hallucination couldn't kick a door open.

I turned to head back towards the office to give Kyle and Eric a call (not that they'd appreciate it at 3 in the morning), but as I turned my flashlight fell on something at the far end of the hallway.

"Grotesque" was putting it lightly. Whatever this thing was made me wonder immediately if I was hallucinating again. It stood upright like a man, but it was a dingy yellow, torn and tattered all over. My flashlight shined off the exposed metal in its chest, head, arms, and legs. It was facing away from me, looking down the hall towards the office.

Well, it _had been_ before my flashlight hit it. The instant the light fell upon it, it turned its head and stared right at me. I recognized those ghastly eyes from the hallucination from before, as well as the horrific grin. Its lips had rotted and peeled back, revealing two rows of rotted teeth. Its eyes shone with a crazed light. _God_ it was disturbing.

It suddenly turned its body towards me and let out a horrific, high-pitched screech that echoed in the hallway, exactly like the screech I heard before. But when I heard metallic footsteps hitting the floor, I knew that whatever this thing was wasn't a hallucination.

I freaked out and bolted down the other hallway. My light shone crazily as I sprinted, trying to twist around to reach the office while losing whatever the hell was chasing me. I mentally kicked myself for not grabbing my stupid cell phone from the office before I came out, because whatever the fuck that thing was lied between me and salvation.

I don't know how long we played cat and mouse for, but it took me a while to realize that it was following the sound of my footsteps to track me. It was easy, seeing how loudly I trampled through the halls to try and escape. I couldn't run through any of the EXITS, for fear of this thing following me outside and wandering out of the building or something. I had to keep it here in the building.

I ducked into a corner where the lights couldn't reach and stopped, heart pounding and out of breath. I tried to keep my breathing under control, in case the thing could hear that too.

Everything went quiet for a few moments. I heard its footsteps in another part of the building. It was searching for me, but with me hiding in the shadows (and breathing as quietly as I could manage), it didn't seem to know where to find me. I used this to my advantage.

Going _agonizingly_ slowly, I made my way down the hallway towards the security office. I froze every few seconds, listening intently for the sound of metal footsteps coming in my direction. There were a few times where it seemed like he was right on top of me, and I even caught a glimpse of him passing from the room I was in into the next. After looking around the room for a minute, I _swear_ we locked eyes for a moment before he moved on.

Eventually I made it into the office, and I closed the door as quietly as possible, even twisting the doorknob so the _click_ of the door wouldn't be too loud. I raced over to my phone and pulled up the number, hit Dial, looked up towards the window, and let out another scream as I saw it staring at me through the window. Its eyes seemed to shine with triumph, and I watched with growing horror as it walked towards the door and out of sight from the window.

I cursed as it went to voicemail and tried again, then there was a loud _BANG_ on the door that made me jump and nearly drop my phone. It banged again, and I whipped out my flashlight, ready to fight it, though the chances of my surviving this thing weren't optimistic. A third bang, and the door caved in the middle, but still held.

I braced for the last blow that would blow the door down, but then I heard a beeping alarm going off.

6:00 am.

My shift was over.

I heard the sound of footsteps trailing away from the door, but I didn't see anything pass by the window.

Whatever it was had gone away, at least for now.

I collapsed to the ground, shaking all over from my near-death experience. I tried calling again. I had to let them know what happened, and I needed to know what the _fuck_ that thing was.

I should have quit. Right there and then.

I wouldn't realize how costly the decision not to was until much later.


	11. Foreshadowing

It had been a little over a month since you had last heard from the guys, so you decided to go pay them a visit. This was a good opportunity for you to check on the progress of the building as well, and to berate them for any shortcuts they might have taken while working on it. Your arm had healed well with no signs of serious infection, and you managed to keep it hidden from your boss long enough for the healing to have taken care of most of the damage. You would probably have a thing scar along your arm, but it was better than what it could have been, you thought.

The first thing you saw as you pulled into the parking lot was a mess of dented door thrown out in front of the building. That was obviously not something you were expecting. There wasn't any broken glass, so it wasn't like it was hurled out in a rage, but you weren't sure why it was dented like something had punched it. You hurried out of your car and ran inside to make sure the guys were okay.

You received a slight scare when you went inside upon seeing all the decorations put up. Even in the daytime it was quite eerie, and the poor lighting didn't help. It was also hot inside, way hotter than it should have been. It was practically smothering, and you felt the temperature change from the slight chill outside as you walked in, like passing through an invisible wall.

As you made your way to the security office, you passed by the door where the animatronic should've been in. The door appeared to be...wrecked. Like someone had round-house kicked it. There were numerous holes where locks had been drilled in and replaced until they had apparently given up, and there were cracks up and down the door and doorway. The hinges were banged up too. The thought that the animatronic had broken out somehow made you feel nauseous. You still hadn't mentally recovered from that little encounter.

You immediately noticed that the door to the security office was missing. The door, as well as its hinges. Kyle and Eric were inside, chatting with a third man you assumed to be the security guard.

He looked haggard, with bloodshot and baggy eyes that suggested he hadn't been sleeping well. His clothes were dirty and stained, as if he hadn't had the chance to wash them in a few days. He was making hand motions wildly and seemed on the verge of shouting. Both Kyle and Eric looked unconvinced at whatever he was going on about, and it was Eric that noticed you coming and made a motion for the man calm down as you walked in.

"You mind telling me why there's a dented door thrown out in the parking lot?" you asked, more than a little concerned about what happened to bring that about.

The security guard looked about ready to yell the answer when Kyle calmly interrupted him. "There's been an...'interesting' development," he said sheepishly.

"You call that _thing_ breaking down my door and coming in here 'interesting'?!" the man shouted, obviously still freaked out about whatever happened. "When he got in here last night I thought he was going to _kill_ me!"

You stared at the man for a moment, that sick feeling from before returning, before glaring at Eric and Kyle, demanding an explanation.

"Okay, before we get into it, this is Thomas, our security guard," Eric motioned and introduced the two of you to each other. "He said that for the past few nights, Munch has been wandering the halls and tried to get into his office a few times-"

"Munch?" you asked.

"Oh." Eric laughed. "That's what we ended up calling the animatronic. Good name, huh?"

Your expression was a clear indication this wasn't the time to be funny. Thomas didn't look amused, either. He looked about ready to punch him.

"Anyway, last night Munch broke down his door again and managed to barge in here, which scared Thomas pretty bad-" he continued until he was cut off again.

"He _broke the fucking door down!_" Thomas yelled, pointing at the jagged holes in the wall where the hinges were torn off. "All I heard was that goddamned screech and he suddenly comes charging in here!"

"Then what happened...?" you asked, almost hesitant to hear the answer.

Thomas seemed to calm down again as Kyle picked up where he left off. "Actually, that's the thing. He just came into the office and stood there, staring at him until it was the end of his shift. After that, he left and went back into his room."

"It still scared the _fuck_ out of me," Thomas muttered, rubbing his forehead. "And that's not even getting into the fucking _hallucinations_-"

"_That_ we can explain," Eric cut in as you stared at them quizzically. "We're working on getting the air conditioning going because it gets really hot in the building at night with all the power to keep it going, and there's no air circulation. We think it's because of the heat he's seeing things."

You were about ready to tear into him just for that. You had thought they'd have gotten the air conditioning up _before _they started hiring people to work in the building. But the fact the animatronic broke into the office was a much more pressing matter.

"So let me get this straight. You're hallucinating, working in a building with no air circulation, and the animatronic _broke into_ your office."

Thomas nodded.

You were furious. "I thought you guys said you were going to _fix_ that thing!" you shouted at them.

"We _are_, we just haven't had a chance to crack him open yet!" Eric said defensively. "We're going to get the air conditioning fixed for Thomas first, then we wanted to take a look at him."

"What we found interesting was that he's able to walk around on his own, and judging by what Thomas said, he must be attracted to noise," Kyle continued, conveniently leaving out the part where it apparently chased Thomas around the first night it broke out of its room.

"And what are you going to do about that?" you asked, crossing your arms.

"We'll think of something," Eric waved the question away. "I got an idea of what we could do, but we'd need another electrician to set it up. We'll get that done this week."

"And the door?" You glanced at the now open doorway. The question was more for Thomas' sake and your peace of mind.

"We'll see about maybe getting it replaced, but if the idea I have in mind works then he won't have to worry about a door," Eric replied. Thomas didn't look exactly relieved, but he didn't look like he was going to complain. Which brought up another thing you wanted to mention.

"I'm not going to tell you guys how to run your business, but I _strongly_ suggest hiring a second security guard," you said, looking back at the trio. "No offense to you, Thomas, but you look like you're running on an empty tank, and exhaustion coupled with no air circulation may be the cause of your hallucinations. I'm no doctor, but getting some rest may get rid of the hallucinations, and having a second person working a shift may make it easier."

"W-wait, I don't know if I can handle cut hours," he said with a worried look. "I'm barely keeping my apartment as it is between my two jobs-"

"We'll come up with something," Kyle cut in, giving Thomas a reassuring look. "We'll check the budget and see if we can squeeze in a few extra dollars pay for the hours you _do_ work so you can still come in rested. We didn't realize we were running you ragged."

You saw Thomas smile, looking grateful, and you were just about to ask about the hallucinations when his face dropped into a look of terror. He screamed, backing up and pointing at the door, shouting "GAH! _IT'S HERE!_"

This caused you and the others to turn and look at the doorway, and all three of you jumped, you just barely biting down a yell of shock.

The animatronic was standing in the doorway, staring at the four of you. It had somehow walked from its room down the hall into the doorway without making a sound or being noticed by anyone. You weren't sure which one was more unsettling.

Thomas was backed up behind the three of you, glaring daggers at it while keeping as far away from it as possible. You hung back, but Eric walked right up to it.

"Heya, Munch!" he said cheerily, holding his hand up for a high-five. 'Munch' turned its eyes on him, but didn't move otherwise. Eric turned back and grinned at you. "This was what I was talking about earlier! We think he's attracted to noise!"

"Is _that_ why he's in here?" you asked, trying not to sound scared but all you could think about was how that thing had pinned you in its room a month before. You suppressed a shudder from the awful memory.

"Yeah, he must have heard us talking! Look, watch." Eric walked past 'Munch' and down the hall, past you guys and out of sight. After a moment, you heard loud clapping coming from another room. The animatronic's eyes looked in the direction of the clapping, and with jerky movements, made its way towards where the clapping was. A few moments after it disappeared from the window, the clapping stopped, and Eric made his way back into the room.

"See?" Eric said proudly, grinning cheekily. "We also found some training tapes from the old location talking about how the old suits would walk to where the kids were and how the staff would try and keep them in their area, and kids make loud noises, so my idea is we make an audio system where Thomas can make sounds from any of the rooms to lure Munch away from the office."

You looked far from convinced, and so did Thomas. "Wouldn't it be easier to just deactivate him and make it so he can't move around at night? Just make him a standing prop or something in the attraction so he doesn't follow people."

"Ah-ah-ah, that's where the really _fun_ part comes in!" he continued, grinning wider. "We could make it so Munch follows people walking through the attraction, like one of those horror movie chase scenes! How scary would that be?!" he shouted in excitement.

"I think you mean _'how dangerous'_!" you countered angrily. "People could trip and hurt themselves running through this building, and what'll you do if it corners somebody?"

That made Eric deflate a little. He hadn't thought of that. Kyle came to his rescue. "Maybe we could put in a remote control chip to make it so that he backs off if someone gets cornered, and there'll be other people in the attraction, I'm sure the noise they make will draw him away also."

You gave him a dirty look that screamed 'I do not like this idea'. He tried again. "We'll make sure he's _totally_ safe before we put him in the attraction. Heck, we'll do the test runs ourselves to make sure he doesn't actually hurt somebody. Is that better?"

You rolled your eyes and sighed. You _hated_ this idea. You _knew_ it was a bad idea. But these two were intent on getting this animatronic into the attraction somehow, and if somebody got hurt, then it'd be _them_ in a whole mess of legal trouble, not you. You'd have your head on a stake if you signed off on the idea without making _absolutely _sure of its safety, but if you had one or two other inspectors sign off on it with you, then it would lessen the blame on you if something _did_ happen.

You heaved a sigh of defeat. "_Fine_, but I'm having at least two other inspectors to clear it before you let it run around so it's not just _my_ ass nailed to the wall if things go wrong."

The two nodded eagerly.

Thomas said nothing, still looking a little shaken from the fright of the animatronic suddenly appearing in the doorway. Eric put a reassuring arm around his shoulders, telling him that the three of them could negotiate a pay raise once a second guard was hired for the night shift.

You glanced at the window, and flinched when the animatronic had appeared again, staring right at you. You locked eyes with it, feeling more uneasy than angry, and it just stared back with its creepy smile.

"I'm going to check around the building to check on things. _Please_ keep that _thing_ out of my way. I don't want it following me around during the inspection." You didn't want to be cornered in a dark room with it, either, especially with what happened last time.

"Alright, we'll walk and talk," Kyle replied, leading Eric and Thomas out of the room and towards the arcade. Thomas fidgeted as they passed the animatronic, and you felt a pang of pity for him. You could definitely relate, and you hoped they'd find another person to help take over the shift.

It took a moment, but 'Munch' finally took its eyes off of you and followed the sounds of conversation going in the other direction. You allowed yourself a shudder, collected yourself, and marched out of the room, confident that the animatronic would be kept out of the way now.

At least you _hoped_ it would.


	12. Open Wide

(Just a heads-up, for trigger warnings: looooots of Mr. Bad Touch and invasion of personal space here, so if you'd rather skip it, jump down to the end of the chapter for the author's note)

_I missed the warmth of a body._

_It had been so long since I had felt it._

_When I was alive, I had never paid it any mind. True, my new body granted me things that I didn't have in life, but I missed the little things._

_I missed the warmth of an embrace._

_I missed the light caress of lips against mine. _

_But what I missed the most was that feeling of a body turning cold under my hands._

_Feeling the jarring of the knife as it penetrated between shoulder blades, the wetness of blood spilling upon my hands as a throat was cut, and the throbbing pulse fade beneath my hands as I choked the life out of a new victim. _

_But the best part, by far, was watching that light fade from their eyes. Each time I watched it happen, a calm would settle over me, like watching a small light slowly fade into blackness. It was...soothing to watch._

_It had been easy, so easy to take those lives. Children were easy targets. They were smaller, weaker, easier to trick and persuade. It had been so simple to earn their trust and lure them away from any witnesses. Their screams were music to my ears as I slaughtered them. My only regret was that it had to be quick, lest anyone hear our fun and come to their rescue._

_My only regret was that it would end so quickly. _

_But now that I had a new home, and new people to play with, things suddenly became interesting again. _

_I longed to play it with you, though._

Confident that you wouldn't be interrupted in your inspection, you began looking around the building. You were satisfied to see security cameras placed intermittently in the halls, and the place didn't appear to have any loose wires or sharp objects that would catch on anyone passing by. Other than it being a little warm, everything seemed to be okay so far.

Even in the daytime, the building was drearily lit. And with no windows, the sickly lights coming from the walls and ceiling gave little to no light for inspection. You immediately regretted not bringing a flashlight. There was no way you could inspect anything in this awful lighting.

You decided to head back to the car and grab a flashlight, but you paused to examine one of the wall pieces. It was the Foxy head from before, but one of its sockets was fitted with a lightbulb that let off a light to illuminate the corner it sat in.

It was only when you had stopped and stared at this thing that you realized you couldn't hear any sounds of conversation anymore. Whether you were too far away to hear them talking or they had stopped, you couldn't tell. You immediately felt uneasy.

Before you could turn around and leave, something cold and rough suddenly placed itself across your face, firmly clamping over your mouth, while another wrapped around your torso, pinning your arms to your sides. You instinctually tried to scream and move your arms to elbow whoever grabbed you, but whatever it was held on tighter, pressing your lips painfully against your teeth and clenching your arms to keep them pinned, which immediately began to hurt. You flailed your legs instead, trying to stomp or kick your assailant, but when your heel collided with their foot you felt a jarring clang reverberate up your leg, and with horror you realize just what grabbed you.

_It had been so easy to take you. I had slipped away while the men had been talking, purposefully trying to be loud so they could keep me near. I was more interested to see what you were up to, though. It hadn't taken me long to find you, admiring one of the wall decor. I made sure to put a hand over your mouth, not wanting your screams to alert the others to what was happening. _

_I wanted to have fun with you while I had you._

_It was a simple matter to slip into the corner of another room, hidden in the shadows. I pressed you against the wall, releasing my arm around your middle but keeping a firm grip around your mouth. My chest pressed against your back, pinning you. I could _feel_ your warmth radiating from your body into mine. I hadn't felt it for so long._

_I watched with amusement as you tried to push yourself away from the wall, but you couldn't move an inch. You were completely helpless, like a bug stuck on a pin board. I heard you trying to scream from behind my hand, but it was heavily muffled. There was no way they would hear you from clear across the building._

_I leaned in, my cracked lips ever so gently grazing your ear, and let out a quiet hiss to see your reaction. You tensed and struggled wildly, a muffled yelp of surprise and fear coming from behind my hand. I enjoyed watching you struggle, trying to jerk your head out of my grip and even trying to pry my hand off. I chuckled to myself. It was so lovely to watch you struggle._

You couldn't breathe. It was dark, you were pinned, and you couldn't breathe. The bastard had pressed you against the wall so hard you couldn't draw a deep breath, so you had to breathe in small, terrified pants. You felt light-headed and utterly terrified. You had tried to pry its hand off but it wasn't moving, and when you felt it graze your ear you _freaked_, trying to break free but it held you fast. You shuddered in its grip when you heard, _felt,_ the hiss in your ear.

Suddenly you were let go, and it backed off. For an instant, you were able to draw in a full breath, ready to let it out in a scream for help.

You were suddenly grabbed by the shoulders and whipped around. The air you were about to let out in a scream came out as a gasp as the breath was forced out of you as you were slammed against the wall again. A pair of glowing eyes stared down at you as you looked up, struggling to gain a breath. You didn't dare let out a scream now, for fear of it killing you first and then going after the others next. The crazed look in its eyes seemed to warn you it would do just that.

You held your arms in front of yourself protectively, preparing yourself for a sudden lunge or bite, trying to shrink down in his grip. It held your shoulders firm, to the point you were sure it was going to leave bruises.

What actually happened was much worse.

The animatronic _leaned in_ towards your face, eyelids lowering so it was gazing down at you with half-lidded eyes. Its mouth opened slightly, and you predicted what it was trying to do.

In disgust, you jerked your head away and tried to shove him off. It suddenly released its grip on your shoulders, but grabbed your wrists and pinned them against the wall instead. You let out a choked sob from the pain as it clenched them tightly, staring up at it again in horror. That sick fuck was _enjoying_ this.

With its mouth slightly open, you caught a glimpse of what was inside, and let out a gasp that almost became a shriek when you realized what it was. You saw skin, dried and brown and very old, and human teeth. A human jaw, with thin steel bars jutting through its lower jaw, making it look like it was locked permanently open in a scream.

There was a _corpse_ inside of this animatronic.

You started feeling lightheaded, a wave of dizziness and nausea slamming into you and making your vision spin. You saw it leaning in again and managed to turn your head to the side _just_ as it closed in. You felt its rough lips and teeth graze your cheek, a grim mockery of a lover's caress. It sent chills through you, and you suddenly felt cold.

"N-no wait, please-" you gasped as it grazed your ear again and gave another low hiss. It was pressing its chest against you, pinning you to the wall again. You quivered with fear, hoping that you would be discovered before it decided to do anything else.

_You were so soft. It took me back to the good days. I didn't want to kill you just yet, however. I wanted to drag this on for a little while longer..._

_I watched you struggle feebly as you tried to break free again. The small glow from my optics illuminated your fear-stricken face, and it was so beautiful to behold. You jerked your head from mine, and for an instant, I saw your neck exposed. _

_It was too easy._

_I dove in and bit down, not hard enough to penetrate, but enough to leave a bruise. My mark on you._

_You let out a strangled yelp as my teeth closed down. Your entire body was trembling now. I felt you shaking, and reveled in it. I was then struck with an evil idea. If I leaned in a little closer, and opened my mouth a little wider-_

_You let out another startled shriek as you felt mummified skin and bone graze your neck. My idea had the intended effect, and it was amusing to witness. I heard you starting to beg, pleading for me to let you go. I wasn't nearly done with you yet, but I did want to do this again, perhaps later. But before I let you go..._

_I released one of your wrists and grabbed your throat, tilting your head up and forced you to stare at me. Your free, bruised hand flew to mine to try and pry it off, as I knew it would. I moved my other hand, still holding your wrist, and grasped your free hand in mine, holding on tightly so I wouldn't let you go. I saw tears spring to your eyes from the pain. I wanted to see more._

_I raised your arms above your head, pinning them against the wall as I leaned in closer. Your eyes went wide in fright as tears rolled down your cheeks. _

_I wanted to give my proper thanks to you for releasing me._

_You squeezed your eyes shut, not wanting to witness this._

_I turned my head and leaned in again, as if to give a kiss by a lover. _

_My lips grazed yours._

_You opened your mouth to try and scream._

_And then..._

**APRIL FOOL'S!**

(What, you didn't _seriously_ think I'd turn this into a SpringtrapXReader fic, did you?

While Springtrap _may _be interested in you, he's more interested in...well, I won't spoil it for you. Certainly nothing romantic, that's for sure.

I'll post the _real_ chapter tomorrow. Rest assured, you won't see any "romantic" Springtrap interactions for the rest of the story. This was just a bit of fun because it's April Fool's and I wanted to mess with you guys. Hope I didn't lose any of you!)


	13. Reminisce

_I missed the warmth of a body._

_It had been so long since I had felt it._

_When I was alive, I had never paid it any mind. True, my new body granted me things that I didn't have in life, but I missed the little things._

_I missed the warmth of an embrace._

_I missed the light caress of lips against mine, scarce as they were. _

_But what I missed the most was that feeling of bodily warmth turning cold under my hands._

_Feeling the jarring of the knife as it penetrated between shoulder blades, the wetness of blood spilling upon my hands as a throat was cut, and the throbbing pulse fade beneath my hands as I choked the life out of a new victim. _

_But the best part, by far, was watching that light fade from their eyes. Each time I watched it happen, a calm would settle over me, like watching a small light slowly fade into blackness. It was...soothing to watch._

_It had been easy, so easy to take those lives. Children were easy targets. They were smaller, weaker, easier to trick and persuade. It had been so simple to earn their trust and lure them away from any witnesses. Their screams were music to my ears as I slaughtered them. My only regret was that it had to be quick, lest anyone hear our fun and come to their rescue._

_My only regret was that it would end so quickly. _

_But now that I had a new home, and new people to play with, things suddenly became interesting again. _

_The rules changed, though. I couldn't control my body in the daytime, as it would be powered down. At night it would power up and I would gain some semblance of control. Often I found my door would be locked. I didn't like being locked in that room. I would break down the door and emerge into the dim lighting. Then the search would begin._

_Despite knowing where the security office was, I couldn't force my animatronic body to walk directly to it. Some old wiring made it so that it would only go towards a noise, so unless the man in the office made a loud sound, I couldn't direct it towards his location._

_I noticed cameras staring back at me the first time I emerged. It brought me back to old times, when I was alive and lurking around at work. The difference was, I was in no peril if I was caught on camera, so I decided to mess with the security guard. I would hide just out of view, or right in the corner, staring into the dark lens so intently I thought I could see through them to the person behind the camera. I hoped it gave them a fright._

_I wandered around my new environment. Much had changed since my discovery. New layout, new rooms, new theme. It was fun to see what my new guests came up with for decor. The severed heads and decayed decorations made me feel at home._

_Then I heard it, a shriek of terror. The machine knew, and I allowed it to lead me to the source of the sound. It traveled automatically, just like it did before. I couldn't control it much once it went into its automatic mode like this, but it proved helpful here._

_It didn't take long for me to find him. A man was sitting, cowering in an office behind a wide pane of glass. I stared back at him, excited at this new prospect, but cautious. _

_My previous victims were children for a reason. Their stature and naiveté made it simple to trick them and get them to secluded areas, and being an adult I easily overpowered them. I could not do the same to an adult, and I was not ready to attempt it with my new body. I did not know if this man was armed either. Still, nothing said I couldn't try to terrify him._

_I made for the door, smiling inwardly at the look of wretched terror in his eyes. _

_The door was locked. A simple obstacle. If I could break out of my room, perhaps I could break down this door as well. I raised a fist and slammed it into the door. It buckled slightly under my hand, and I tried again. It buckled even more, and a sizeable dent appeared. I could hear the hinges creaking under the strain, and the panicked breath and shouts of the man inside._

_I stopped, or rather my body stopped, once an alarm went off. _

_6:00am._

_His shift was over._

_It was a strange glitch in the animatronic's wiring. Once their shift was over, they were free to leave, and I was forced to return to my room. I was unhappy, but I knew he would be back the next night, and we could play again. I slinked away, dejected, but eager for the next night._

_It took a few days, but I managed to get into his office. I did not see him when I tried to retrace my steps, but it had not occurred to me that he could have been hiding under his desk. Smart move. It was only when I heard another shout of terror that I knew he was inside. No doubt he was hallucinating. I wished I could chuckle to myself. Even though those brats had trapped me in this rotting body, they were still trapped here, as I was. Old habits die hard, it seems, and they've taken to harassing the newest security guard. _

_This time I managed to break the door down, and emerged inside to witness him cowering in the corner with naught but a flashlight to protect himself. I shrieked at him, and he screamed in terror._

_It was at this point that I hesitated again. Now that I was inside, I wasn't sure what I should do. I had never attacked an adult before, and he had been expecting my arrival, and therefore had time to prepare. If I attacked now, I wasn't sure if I would succeed in killing him, and if I did, no doubt the owners would figure out who attacked and killed him, and I would be scrapped, or incinerated. _

_There was also the decision of how best to kill him. I couldn't afford to do anything messy, for fear of blood getting on my body that I could not wash off. I could have choked him, or snapped his neck. Both proved effective against my child victims, and flesh yields quite readily to steel._

_That left the problem of where to hide the body. My room was still unlocked, and the smell of a corpse would quickly seep out and alert the owners. There were no vents to hide it in, which would have been a problem also even if there were. Just because I couldn't smell anymore didn't mean the owners couldn't. It would merely make it difficult to find the body, but would no doubt shut the building down. _

_All of these things I pondered as I stared at the guard. Reluctantly, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't kill him just yet, not until I figured out where I could stash the corpse and unless I could catch him off guard. Taking a look at the clock on the desk, it was nearing the end of his shift anyway._

_So I withdrew, thinking and strategizing to myself. I would have to bide my time until I figured out what to do. _

_Normally I would only be active during the night, but one afternoon I had heard voices. It wasn't like the animatronic had an internal clock, and the poor lighting gave the illusion that it was nighttime, so I was able to stand and walk towards the source. It was only when it saw people in the office that it realized it wasn't time for his shift yet._

_My thoughts turned to you again. I hadn't seen you for a while, ever since our little meeting in my room. I wouldn't exactly call it "gratefulness" that I felt towards you, just a...fondness. I missed instilling terror and being able to move about in the shadows as I had in life. I would have been doomed to rot if it hadn't been for you._

_I liked to reflect on our fateful meeting, when I heard you scream and saw your blood for the first time. _

_I sincerely hoped that you would join the game sometime, so I could do it again._

_I would love toying with you for a while. I'd even drag the game on as long as possible before I made it end._

_You would be the last. I had something special in mind for you when I found you._

_And I would revel in the warmth of your corpse._


	14. Hello Jack

First night on the job.

Not too shabby.

No sign of Munch yet, which was a good thing, if what that guy was yammering on about was any indication.

He had grabbed me and pulled me aside after the interview, warning me about some "psycho animatronic". I brushed him aside at the time. He was all haggard, eyes were bloodshot, thought he was just one of those crazy bastards you always saw in the movies hassling people with superstitious nonsense. It wasn't until tonight when I heard the introductory voicemail talking about the "star of the attraction" sometimes wandering the halls and trying to get into the office that I gave what he said credence.

I leaned back in my chair, looking around the dimly lit, sickly green office. There was a grimy box of masks or something on the ground shoved into the corner, with a plastic guitar sticking out of it. I didn't want to know what made those stains on the box, disgusting as it was. Then there were the grimy kid drawings, grimy posters, grimy glass window to see out into the grimy hallway, grimy desk (with grimy drawers that made a horrific screech as I forced them open to check what was inside). Coupled with the grimy walls, the grimy floor, and the piss-poor lighting, I was convinced this was the worst gig I've ever worked.

Now I've worked some really bad places. The guys were impressed with my resume, which showed I had made a living working in security. Security guard for a couple dead-end bands, bar bouncer, hell I even worked in an airport once or twice. I knew how to handle the crazies, the upstarts, the psychos that'd pull out a gun or a knife to threaten me or someone else, all for a measly pay.

This was totally different. This was sitting in an office, staring at a monitor into some dim hallways, waiting for some boogeyman or something to pop out. And while I was still unconvinced that my life was in danger in any sort of way, I almost preferred the excitement of a whackjob suddenly freaking out and punching somebody without warning. At least it was _exciting._

I didn't believe a word of what that guy said, or what was said on that tape. It was probably my employers messing with me since it was my first night. As for that crazy guy, he probably _was_ crazy. Maybe one of them dressed up and lurched around the hallways at night just to scare him. It'd certainly take away from the monotony of the job, that's for sure.

And _oh_, what a monotonous job it was.

I looked at the clock.

1:55am.

_Oh for fuck's sake._

I felt like I was going to go stir-crazy. I couldn't even put on music or anything, I had to listen in case one of the alarms went off or something happened on camera.

Speaking of cameras...I scooted my chair over and checked them real fast.

Yup, just as I thought, as I flicked through each of them. Not a goddamn thing happening in any of them.

While this place was a dump, at least it as a little more high-tech than some of the places I worked. It had _just_ enough to be functional, apparently, and with all the wires hanging from the ceiling I couldn't tell if that was intentional or a hack job.

They hadn't covered the computer or the monitor in great detail during the interview. Guess they expected me to figure it out while I was sitting around doing nothing for six straight hours. The monitor was a touch-screen (I was amazed it wasn't a point and click with a dinky computer mouse hanging from it), and by just tapping the square I could bring up the camera for that area, and between the cameras I could get a general layout of the building. I also had the option to let out an audio noise if I had a room selected. I had a choice between creepy child laughter and creepy child "hello." I guess they were going to use it to try and guide people as they walked through the thing, hell if I knew. The second box was grayed out. Apparently they hadn't installed whatever that button was supposed to do. Simple enough, really.

That was to my right. To my left was another monitor, but _this_ one had the dinky computer mouse attached to it. This one was meant to maintain the computer system I had going, in case their cheap-ass electronics went out. The selections were self-explanatory: Audio Devices to reset the audio cues, Camera System to reboot the cameras when they got all fuzzy with static, and Ventilation to keep the air flowing. _So_ nice of them to make sure I don't pass out in the office.

I propped my head up on my hands as I leaned on the desk, staring out into the gloom. _God this was boring._ I glanced over at the three bobbleheads, each representing the original Fazbear crew. I flicked one of their heads and watched it rattle before leaning back in my chair and sighing. I checked the clock again.

2 :00 am.

Another four hours to go. Whoopty-do.

I pulled up the cameras again and switched to a random room and hit the Play Audio button, hearing the voice say "Hello" to the empty room. I was really bored.

Just as I was flicking away, the camera became full of static. When it settled, nothing seemed to be any different. Everytime I played the audio, the camera would fill with static and then go back to normal. I always did a Camera System reboot when it happened. Figured it was just an error.

This time, something seemed...different about the room. Something was off. I leaned in closer to the monitor, peering into the grainy picture.

It took me a second to find it, and it nearly made me flinch in my seat when I finally saw it.

It was an eye, peering out at me from the corner of the screen. The rest of the face was off camera, but it was staring straight at me.

Was this the thing that one guy was talking about?

_All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy._

_Let's play._

(Sorry for the inactivity! A lot of things came up and I didn't have time to write. I'll try to make updates once a week for this story so you guys aren't left hanging again.)


	15. Goodbye Jack

Alright, the eye thing was unnerving, but it was going to take a lot more than that to scare me. I wouldn't have lasted long in security if I got scared easily. It was probably just some kind of prank by my employers. But _god_, that thing was creepy. If this was their idea of a joke, I wasn't laughing.

The camera was filled with static again. When it faded out, the eye was gone. The thing must have moved. I checked the cameras, but he wasn't showing up anywhere.

So the rumors about Munch were real after all. Not that the thought brought much comfort.

Alright, keep cool. Analyze the situation. I thought back to my encounter with that guy after the interview. Munch was the "star of the attraction", and he liked to wander around at night. And according to the guy, this thing had tried to break into his office on more than one occasion. I think I remembered my employers mentioning something about replacing the office door due to an "incident." They didn't go into details, just said some bullshit about it getting kicked in.

_That_ made me break out into a sweat. The people I used to deal with just had knives, or flipped tables. One guy at a bar tackled a security guard and sent him flying clear through a window, and he was hyped on drugs at the time. It took five of us to take him down.

I could handle _that_. This thing could punch through a _door._ And I didn't have any back-up to help me if he did.

I checked the clock.

2:15am.

Alright, a little less than four hours to go. I could handle that.

A jarring buzzing noise and flashing red lights jolted me out of my reverie. It was only then I realized I hadn't been monitoring the ventilation systems. I wheeled myself to the computer and reboot it, swearing at myself for not keeping an eye on it. It was so loud I swore it could be heard clear across the building.

Wait a minute...

I rushed to the monitor and pulled up the cameras, trying to find Munch.

He wasn't on CAM 05. I flipped through the others. CAM 08, CAM 10, CAM 04, CAM 03, CAM 02-

He was standing in the doorway in CAM 02. That was _way_ too fucking close to the office for my liking. In the light of the doorway I could get a good look at him. He looked...tacky, honestly. With the state of the building as it was, I couldn't tell if the half-rotted suit was for aesthetic purposes or actually rotted.

I didn't let my guard down. Tacky or not, if that thing got in my office... I didn't want to think about what it would try and do then. Better to make sure it never got here. I went to a random camera, one that was closer to the entrance, and hit Play Audio. Creepy child laughter played this time. Maybe it would distract it long enough to get away from the office.

I checked CAM 02 again. No sign of him this time. Maybe it worked? I flipped through some of the other ones, but he didn't show up in any of them, no matter how much I squinted into the grainy image. It wasn't until I checked the camera that I sounded the audio in that I found him. He just stood in the middle of the room, the light shining from behind him presented a really eerie image. As long as he stayed there I didn't care what he was doing.

I noticed that the Play Audio option hadn't come back yet, and a beeping noise came from the computer. I set down the monitor and checked the computer. Audio error. Fantastic. I clicked it to reboot it, but it was taking way too long. That thing was probably moving through the hallways again. As soon as I was clear I pulled up another random room and hit Play Audio. The "hello" brought the thing running, not a second later the image went snowy, and then Munch was peering out at the cameras from behind one of the props. It was like a twisted game of "Red Light, Green Light."

I couldn't leave the monitor up while minding the computer either, the idiots who set this up made it so they were on opposite sides of the desk. If I wanted to I could prop up the monitor so while I was rebooting the computer systems I could see if he moved on camera, but the cameras were so shitty and grainy I had to strain to see what was going on normally. There was no way I could see it clear across the desk, and I couldn't pull it closer because of the rig keeping it in place. I was going to complain to my employers about that when I saw them next.

This lasted for the rest of the night. Cameras, Audio, systems reboot, rinse, repeat. Luckily I managed to keep the thing from getting any closer than the room adjacent to my office. An alarm that sounded like a bell ringing, followed by a bunch of children shouting "Yaaaay!", signaled the end of my shift. And sitting at the desk, in a cold sweat as I hunched over the camera monitor, it couldn't have come quick enough.

The salary they were paying me wasn't good enough to go through this every night. _No_ salary was good enough, for that matter. I was desperate but not _that_ fucking desperate. I yanked out a piece of paper from one of the drawers, along with a pen, and wrote a formal letter saying that I quit. I'd leave them a phone call when I was out of this hellhole. I'd take bouncer duty over this any night.

**...(an hour later)...**

An aged old man walked in, dragging a cleaning trolley behind him using the shaft of the mop. His grey, almost white hair was tucked snugly under a janitor cap, matching his faded purple uniform. Walking into the office he discovered it vacant, with a single, hastily written letter sitting on the desk. He picked up the letter, read it, then folded and tucked it into his breast pocket to deliver to his employers later that day. Pulling out a spray bottle and washcloth, he set about cleaning the desk and monitors of the sweat and fingerprints from its previous inhabitant. Business as usual, the old man thought to himself as he mopped the floors. He knew the drill.

(Sorry for the edits, everyone! I was trying to figure out how to put the break in without the site removing it so I could show that some time had passed. I also removed the chapter titles so it wouldn't be redundant. Next chapter's already written, and the one after that is in progress, so you'll get your weekly update!)


	16. Hello Jenny

They failed to mention in the newspaper ad that the interview I was going into was a group interview.

It was a little awkward, and I got a couple stares from some of the guys like "What are you doing here?", but the two that were running the interview didn't seem to care. They collected our resumes and told us to feel free to take a look around while they went through them.

There was almost 20 of us at the start, but as they started explaining what we were expected to do and the "hazards" that came with the job (something about one of the attractions wandering around at night and trying to get into the office), a bunch of potential competition left. They had told us at the start that if you weren't interested in the job to just get up and leave, they weren't going to bother making them sit through the entire shpeal if they weren't interested, which we were grateful for. A few had seemed nervous but stubbornly stayed, but as they started asking questions, and when the "liability waver" and "company contract" were brought up, that spooked them enough to get up and leave.

By the end of it, there was only a handful of us left, me included. They asked us some questions, mostly about how well we picked up on routines and how well we worked under pressure. I had been a dishwasher and busboy for a couple restaurants, and even worked behind the counter making the food and taking orders. "Under pressure" was an understatement, and I considered myself pretty good at picking up routines and adapting to a situation.

It was only after signing the contract and the waiver that they finally let us in on what was going on, since the contract made it so we couldn't talk about it to anyone. They had been trying to find additional security guards to cover shifts since the one they had started hallucinating on the job, but all the ones they've been getting lately have all been flaking. When we asked about the hallucinations, they dismissed it as stress on the job. The only other person they hired that stayed was the janitor, but he only came in mornings, after our shift was over.

They'd pay us for each night we worked, and preferably they'd like us to last a week before they increased our pay to full-time, due to the ones that only lasted one or two nights and took off. Seemed reasonable enough to me, and the others agreed. They showed us the monitor and cameras, saying that we'd get the hang of things on-the-job so they wouldn't have to waste time showing us how they worked, and that we just needed to watch the cameras until the end of our shift.

The last thing they mentioned was that they had an animatronic that liked to wander around at night. They assured us it wasn't dangerous, but to try and keep it as far away from the office as we could, and not to leave the office until our shift was over. The people that had quit said it had either gotten in or had attempted to. Other times he just stared at them from the window and freaked them out. "His name's 'Munch', and you'll know him when you see him," the one named Kyle chuckled. "He's kind of hard to miss. He's harmless, but just try to keep him out of the office."

After that, we each signed up for the days we were available for the shift, and were congratulated on getting the job. I was nervous when I left. The first night on the job was always unnerving, but it couldn't be _too_ bad, right?

Eight hours later, and I found myself sitting at the desk, a half-eaten burger lying in its wrapper next to some fries, slurping a drink as I checked the cameras. They didn't say anything about not bringing food into the office, and judging by the amount of grime and stains in this place I didn't think they'd notice. I made sure not to leave marks on the screens, though.

Figuring out how the cameras worked was simple enough. I got to see what the place looked like at night, and it was _way_ more eerie than it was in the daytime, that's for sure. I didn't realize how awful the lighting was, but since this was going to be a horror attraction I guess it made sense that they wouldn't want to make it too bright. Didn't make my job any easier, though.

The aesthetics were interesting, anyway. Old mascots propped up here and there, severed heads lying around, loads of cables and wires dangling from the ceilings, a bunch of tubes jutting out from the floor and walls. Made me think I was part of some industrial horror film.

The cameras were self-explanatory. Tap the box, it would bring up a grainy image of the dimly-lit room. I didn't know what the heck "Play Audio" was for, so I left it alone. The first hour was relatively calm. No sign of anything walking through the hallways, which was a little disappointing. I was hoping to see Munch, but it was kind of fun just imagining things walking through the hallways. Like a slasher from a horror film, holding a big machete dripping blood, or something just as ridiculous.

I laughed to myself at the mental image. They should totally get somebody to dress up in one of the animatronic suits and chase people through this place to make it a really authentic experience. That would be hilarious. Freddy Fazbear could wear a hockey mask on his nose and wield a chainsaw, Bonnie's face could be all painted up and make it look like there's blood around his mouth, and he'd hold a blood-stained steel pipe. Chica would totally have a knife, and maybe Foxy could have a Freddy Krueger thing going, with the glove knives on his good hand.

And get a loudspeaker to play creepy, unfitting songs like "It's A Small World After All" or "London Bridge is Falling Down", but make it all slow and distorted. Have it playing overhead while they're running through the attraction, trying to get to the exit. It'd be fucking awesome. Nothing quite like a bloodstained animatronic lurching down the hallway while "It's a small, small world" crackled over the speakers.

I grabbed some fries and started munching just as I pulled up the cameras again, flipping through and staring into the snowy images for the seventh time tonight.

Nothing.

Nada.

Negatory.

Nope.

_Hold it._

I was flipping through them so fast it took me a second to realize one of the cameras had a silhouette in the doorway. I quickly backtracked to that camera, and sure enough, something was standing there. It...well it was _supposed_ to be a rabbit, if the single long ear was any indication, but it was heavily rotted, and only a stub remained of its other ear.

Before I could get a better look at it, a jarring alarm and red flashing lights suddenly lit up the office. I nearly jumped out of my seat from the sudden noise, dropping my fries and nearly spilling my drink, and some small red text that spelt out "ventilation" appeared on the camera screen. I set it down and checked the computer and discovered that it was a ventilation error.

They couldn't have made it a little quieter? I thought to myself as I rebooted it. It was weird, I hadn't had any problems with the ventilation until now.

I went back to the cameras and pulled it up again.

"Jeezus!" I shouted, jumping back in my chair. The thing had moved from its position in the doorway and was staring straight into the camera. Its eyes looked almost bloodshot, but I couldn't tell if that was from the lighting or a weird detail they added on it.

After the initial shock, I chuckled. Alright, this thing knew I was watching the cameras, and it wanted to mess with me. So it had a sense of humor, good to know.

Wait... If that thing knew I was watching the cameras, it knew I was in the office.

That meant it was probably headed this way next.

How the hell was I supposed to keep it from coming over here?!

_I had heard the ventilation alarm go off. I knew it was another newbie tonight, so I decided to give her a sporting chance. It's never fun when it ends too quickly._

_The first guy was no fun. He picked up on it immediately and left after the first night. This girl didn't even know how the audio for the cameras worked. The sooner she figured it out, the longer she would last before I got to her._

_If she didn't, well..._

_At least she tried. Heh heh._


	17. Think Fast

How the _fuck_ was I supposed to keep it from coming to the office?!

Harmless or not, that thing was _fucking creepy_. No way in hell I wanted that thing coming into the office. But how the heck was I supposed to keep it away?!

I pulled up the touchscreen and found him again. Maybe the Play Audio button? What did that do? I tapped it to see, hoping maybe a jingle or music would play and make it dance, or something.

I heard a recording of some kid saying "Hi" into the room.

Nothing.

Not even a _twitch_ from the thing.

_*KZZZHHHHHHHH*_

_"WHA?!"_ I jumped and nearly fell out of my chair at the noise that was suddenly erupting from the monitor speakers. I skid over to the monitor and pulled it up. An audio devices error?! _Seriously?!_

"I do _not_ need this crap right now," I yelled angrily, clicking on it to resolve the problem. I glanced up at the glass window to see if the thing had reached the office yet.

No sign of it. Well that was good-

_Was that a head disappearing under the glass?_

I only saw it for a split second but _I swear to god_ there was something staring at me from just over the bottom of the glass and then popping back down. I stood up and leaned over the desk to see if it was still hiding, but I couldn't see anything (this stupid desk was so big I probably wouldn't have been able to anyway).

Quick glance at the monitor. Audio error fixed. Thank _god._

Okay, put the monitor down, take a few deep breaths. I checked the clock. 3:11am. I got this, just a few hours to go. Maybe the thing would get lazy or just wander the halls for a bit and won't make it here. Maybe I could give the audio thing another try. Maybe I really will survive tonight.

I put the monitor down just in time to see something standing right by the doorway.

It was...the fox pirate thing?!

The suit was really burned-

Wires and endoskeleton were visible-

_It's eyes-_

I only managed to get a glance at it before it suddenly leapt up and tried to pounce on me. I screamed and threw my arms to protect my face, feeling myself lurch backward as the chair suddenly lost its footing and I landed with a heavy crash on the floor. Still screaming, I kicked my legs out at the thing to fend it off, but they hit empty air. I lay there for a few seconds, too scared to move, waiting for it to suddenly land on me and tear my organs out or something. Lying on the floor I realized just how stuffy it was in the room, and I was barely aware of the alarms blaring and the red lights flashing, indicating the ventilation error. After a while, I finally moved my arms to peer out into the room.

Whatever that thing was wasn't in here anymore. My head ached from hitting the back of the chair _and_ the floor, my heart felt like it was going to explode, and I felt so light-headed I thought I was going to faint. I dragged myself up back to the monitor and slammed the mouse to fix the stupid freaking error and get some air circulation back in the room. After thinking about it for a few seconds the computer got the hint and I finally heard the telltale click of the fans turning back on. I breathed a sigh of relief (and a gulp of fresh air).

I checked the clock again, and bolted upright when I saw the time. 3:30am. How the _hell_ had that much time passed!? Had I been laying on the floor for almost 20 minutes?!

Standing now, I ran over to the camera and pulled it up, whipping through the cameras to find Munch. He wasn't at the entrance, he wasn't in any of the hallways, _where the fuck was he-_

Something moving caught the corner of my eye as I stared intently at the cameras. I glanced up.

"Fucking _Christ!_" I screamed, nearly falling down again as the monitor automatically let itself down.

Munch was standing on the opposite side of the glass. The lighting made him look scarier than hell. I could only gawk as we stared at each other. I had no idea what the hell to do now.

It tilted its head, and I _swear_ it looked like its grin got wider, and it raised a hand and wiggled its fingers at me in a mocking wave. I glared back at it and whipped the cameras up again. Maybe if I could get an audio thing to play in another room it'll get distracted.

I hit a random camera and hit Play Audio. Creepy kid laughter. Wonderful. _But did it work?!_

I looked up again. Munch was gone.

Okay, maybe I was in the clear-

I nearly screamed when I heard the slam against the door. Backing up I got a foot tangled in the chair legs and fell back, making my already gruesome headache worse. I staggered upright, eyes darting around the room for something to use as a weapon. Besides a chair, the mounts for the electronics, a fire extinguisher and a flashlight, there was nothing else. I was so fucking _fucked._

BANG.

BANG.

_BANG!_

"KNOCK IT OFF!" I shrieked at the door, nearly sobbing in terror. To my surprise, the banging stopped. I checked the clock again.

3:33am.

M-maybe someone was awake at this hour. I could call them. Hell I'd call 911 and deal with the "is this a prank call" shit later as long as they got someone down here before-

There was a click, and it sounded like something was getting crushed. Then there was the high-pitched screech of metal, like when two rusty pieces were twisted in on each other. It persisted for a few seconds until I realized just what was happening, and that sent me into full-blown panic mode.

_The thing had grabbed the doorknob. It was trying to open the door._


	18. Gotta Hide

The door was locked, but that wasn't going to stop a bigass animatronic that could probably break the door down anyway. I flew to the desk and scrambled to find my cell phone, sending the burger and fries flying. I found it hiding under the burger wrapper. It took me a couple swipes to make it register that I was _trying to fucking unlock it_ (no thanks to the grease and sweat on my hands, damned touchscreens), only to find as soon as it unlocked that I had no service in here.

_"Shit!"_ I tried calling anyway, hoping I'd get lucky and it would go through. I raised it to my ear, facing the door as the screeching got louder, praying that I'd hear a voice on the other line.

_"Sorry, the number you are trying to reach-"_

_"FUCK!"_ In pure frustration I hurled it at the desk, just in time to hear the groan of metal as the lock was turned way too far, contorting the metal. I looked around the room, sobbing in terror. Maybe there was a landline phone that I could use-

I spotted it hanging on the far wall, next to the fire extinguisher. When I picked it up all I heard was the dial tone. No matter how many times I punched in 911, or any numbers for that matter, all I heard was the _fucking dial tone._ They never told us what number to push if we wanted to call out of the building!

At this point I just wanted to hide under the desk and pray it was stupid enough not to check there. I broke down sobbing, slamming the phone against the receiver as I sunk to the floor in defeat. A million scenarios of what would play out ran through my head: getting my neck snapped, getting my head crushed, getting eviscerated or _tortured, _my blood and/or brains getting spattered on the glass, getting thrown_ through_ the glass, getting _eaten-_

Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn't get a call out. Only a few people knew I was here, but no one knew about what was going on. By the time they found me, it'd probably be too late. This thing would have killed me before the morning. Maybe they wouldn't even be able to _find_ me, my body might get stashed somewhere and I'd just disappear off the face of the earth. I felt like breaking down, screaming and crying and begging for mercy, right there.

I suddenly remembered all the girls in the horror movies. Most of them just gave up and accepted their death, and let the monster or villain tear them to shreds or torture them or _whatever the hell_. But there were some that gave the bad guy a middle finger and fought till the end, whether by her death or theirs. Sometimes they survived , and some even lasted for two or three more movies.

I was acting like the tragic girl that needed to be rescued. I _needed_ to act like the second, like I stood a _chance_ at surviving.

Furiously wiping away my tears, I stood and looked around the room for something to use to fend it off with.

No way in _hell_ I was going down without a fight.

_I couldn't hear her whimpering or sobbing in the office anymore. Maybe she had given up, or better yet, tried to hide. Not that there was anywhere she could, besides under the desk. I thrilled at the thought, seeing her staring up at me in horror, screaming and begging to be spared as I dragged her out. _

_Reminded me of a kid that tried to run away one time. Found him cowering in a bathroom stall. The look on his face when I kicked the door in was priceless. It was still frozen on his face when I killed him. Instead of slitting his throat, I choked him, doing it for a minute or two before relaxing my grip, enough for him to gasp a breath and try to scream, then I gripped harder. I made it last for almost an hour as punishment for him trying to run away before he gasped his last._

_Maybe I could do the same to her, after knocking her around for a bit to let out some of the frustration I still had for letting the other guard get away. Screams of terror were nice, but screams of pain were a treat. I couldn't indulge them often, for fear of witnesses or being interrupted, but it was just me and her in this building. No one was coming to her rescue, so I could take my sweet time._

_The doorknob was a mangled mess in my hands. Either the metal was cheap, or I was stronger than I gave myself credit for. I'd have to keep that in mind. I didn't want to go from bruises to broken bones _too_ quickly. _

_The door opened inward, and there was another low groan and loud grind as the lock bent at an angle, forced to give under the pressure. The door jerked suddenly, freed from the deadlock. I decided to take my time with it, to make a worthy entrance and to prolong her terror. _

_The door creaked open sloooowly, and I started to poke my head in._

_Hehehe. Heeeeeere's-_

"EAT THIS, FUCKFACE!" I screamed, wielding the office chair like a stool and slamming the wheeled feet into the thing's face. I heard a resounding _CRACK_ as it connected, but whether it was one of the feet snapping off or me cracking its mouth I couldn't tell or care.

It was either the running start I took, or the fact I caught it off guard, that sent it staggering backwards against the far wall. I hurled the chair after it, taking satisfaction with the _clang_ it made when it hit it, and slammed the door against the doorframe. The bastard had messed up the door lock so I couldn't shut it, but I wasn't intending on staying in here.

I heard a godawful screech of rage, no doubt coming from the animatronic, and grabbed the fire extinguisher, standing off to the side of the door and waiting for its next move.

I predicted right. It came charging into the room, enraged, and as soon as it cleared the door I let loose with the fire extinguisher, dousing it in a cloud of white. Disoriented, it went careening against the wall, but I didn't stop dousing it until the entire office was enshrouded. After using the last of it, I raised it above my head and threw as hard as I could at the spot where I was sure it had collapsed, and then I bolted from the office.

I tore through the building, barreling into the main room and slamming into the front doors. I frantically tried to open them, but they didn't budge. Apparently they remained locked until someone outside unlocked them. _Who the fuck designs doors that can't be unlocked from the inside?!_ I raged, panicking. That thing was going to be _pissed_ when it came out of the office, and I had left my cell phone and the flashlight in there when I dashed out. I had to hide somewhere and _pray_ it didn't find me before 6am. I didn't even know what time it was, the building was too dark to see anything.

I heard a loud screech from down the hallway. I had to hide _now_.

In my panic I made the stupidest mistake imaginable. This thing probably knew the layout of the building like the back of its hand, and if I tried hiding in any of the big rooms it'd find me for sure. There were Exits, but I didn't know if I could make it to them in time before it found me, and I didn't want to get in a chase with it.

I ended up running into the girl's bathroom and hiding in one of the stalls. I picked the handicapped stall, where it would have been less obvious if someone was hiding in it thanks to the wide door. I perched on the toilet, clutching my knees to my chest, and hoped that 6am was soon. If it wasn't, I was as good as dead.


	19. Goodbye Jenny

(Author's note: Sorry I cut the last chapter short. It was running a bit longer than I normally have for a chapter, so I decided to split it up. _That and I love leaving you all in suspense~_ This will be the last chapter update before Finals, but I'll have another one ready for the update next week. Please favorite and review, it helps a lot! I love to hear what you guys think of the story so far!)

I don't know how long I sat there for. It felt like ages, but it could have been a couple minutes for all I knew. For a while all I heard was the gentle hum of electricity from the lone lightbulb illuminating the bathroom, bathing the room in a weak, sickly green light. Shadows from the stalls were cast against the floor and walls, creating jagged areas of shadow that helped to conceal my hiding spot. Save for the crack of light peeking through the slim opening in the stall door, anyway.

When I had raced in here I hadn't bothered to lock the door. Sitting here now, I considered it, but thought better of it. Better to make it seem like the stalls were empty if it came in here. A shut door would've immediately been suspicious, even more so if it was locked.

My heart was still racing from earlier. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears, and it practically thundered in the silence. I tried to keep my breathing under control. Deep breaths through the nose, slow and steady. Don't make anymore noise than you need to. After a few moments of silence I carefully, silently, readjusted my position on the toilet seat. I had been sitting on the lid, the heels of my shoes precariously perched on the lip of the edge. The last thing I needed was my foot skidding off it and making a loud squeak, or worse, accidentally dipping it into the toilet. I moved to a more comfortable position, sitting further up against the back of it while my feet rested fully on the lid. Perfect position; I could launch off of it if I needed to dash, and my feet weren't visible from the stall floor or the entrance. The only way the bastard would tell if I was here was if it came to investigate.

I ran some possible scenarios in my head while I waited. Either it'd go charging through the building trying to find me, or it'd go all sneaky and try to sneak up on my hiding place, like when it tried to get to the office. If it wasn't being particularly thorough, it'd just poke its head in, look around, then leave, but I highly doubted that'd be the case. If it went stall to stall...maybe I could try and sneak under the stalls as it looked through them, if I could crawl fast enough. But if it ran through and started busting down the doors...

I strained to listen from my hiding spot. The restrooms were a bit of a ways from the office, so it was possible I wouldn't be able to hear anything anyway-

I flinched when I heard a grating screech and something shatter. It must have been the animatronic, and it sounded enraged. It sounded like it threw something, either the chair or the fire extinguisher, through the window. I cringed, there was _no way_ I was going to be able to explain that in the morning, if I survived that long.

Then I heard heavy, thudding footsteps as it stomped through the hallway. At some point it sounded like it punched the wall. I was amazed it didn't punch through it, but it sounded _pissed_. I huddled on top of the seat, trying to keep my cool. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in-

I let out a startled scream as another crash sounded, this time much closer to where I was hiding. Then, silence. I covered my mouth and berated myself for being a _fucking idiot._ It probably knew exactly where I was now.

_Thud._

_Thud._

_Thud._

I heard the footsteps get closer, and a short, angry screech. Then the sound of a door being slammed open. I clenched my jaw and tightened my hand around my mouth, trying not to make a sound. Judging by how close it sounded, it just entered the Men's restrooms.

_Thud._

_Thud._

_BANG!_

One of the stall doors was just slammed open. I could _feel_ it shake my stall with the force. This happened three more times, the last time directly across from where I was sitting.

Silence again. Just for a moment. It must have figured it out because I heard the booming footsteps again, coming closer.

I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking on my perch. It was going to be in here any second. I was so _stupid_ to hide in the bathroom of all places-

_Thud._

_Thud._

_THUD._

The footsteps stopped right outside the door. I looked up, trembling in terror, staring through the slim crack through the stall door. It was going to be broken through any second now.

The silence continued for way too long. I couldn't hear anything. No screeching, no slamming, no footsteps, neither advancing nor receding, but I thought I heard something in the distance. I couldn't tell what it was. After a few more moments I actually thought I was in the clear, but that should have been impossible. It was standing right outside the _fucking door_. It knew where I was, there was no way it would have walked away. After a few more minutes I found myself wishing it would hurry up and get on with it.

Then I heard footsteps again. They were softer this time, and sounded like they were heading towards the bathrooms. I couldn't figure out why they would be heading this way. Had it wandered off or something?

The footsteps stopped, and I heard the door to the men's restroom gently swing open. After a moment, I saw light shining underneath the door, and the door to the women's restroom was opened.

I tensed up. This was it. It was going to check the stalls, and when it found me...I tried not to let out a sob of fear. _I didn't want to die._

The footsteps got closer. I clutched my knees tighter, staring at the stall door. Maybe if I gave a running start I could tackle it and try to escape. After the chair stunt it was unlikely, but I didn't want to just sit here and wait for it to come kill me-

The footsteps stopped outside my stall door. I froze, any plan up till that point completely deserting me.

_This was it._

The door creaked open, but instead of a hideous yellow costume, I saw an old man in a faded purple uniform, clutching a flashlight and shining it on me.

"Miss?"

**...(two hours later)...**

The janitor had returned to quite a mess that morning. The office window was shattered, there was white debris covering the office from the now empty and somehow dented fire extinguisher, and soda had spilled onto one of the electronics. Fortunately it didn't hit anything vital, but it would take some time cleaning out the sticky mess, and that wasn't even mentioning the fries and bits of burger that had mysteriously wound up all over the desk.

When he came in for his shift he wasn't surprised that the night guard hadn't come out to meet him. Sometimes they left immediately after their shift, when the doors unlocked at 6am, and he didn't arrive until a few minutes after, usually to a note on the desk saying they quit. He _was_ surprised to find the night guard cowering in the women's restroom, and judging by the state of her, she had had a long night. The only reason he had found her was because he noticed the bathroom door to the men's restroom was askew, no doubt due to damage to the hinges, and he thought he heard a sniffle coming from the women's.

The night guard immediately started bawling when he found her, clinging to him and sobbing as he tried to calm her down and get an explanation for the broken glass and the mess in the office. She kept going on about the "killer animatronic" and how it had tried to get into the office, and that was how it mangled the door. She had apparently broken the office chair on its face (which would no doubt require repairs), and when it tried to come in she doused it with the fire extinguisher and then threw it at him (which explained the dent as well as the mess).

He gently guided her to the office while...ahem, _gently_ reminding her that her contract forbade her from discussing what went on during her shift, and that the repairs to the office window, the electronics, replacement of the office chair, and repairs on the animatronic would be coming out of her paycheck. She became hysterical then, screaming about how she was almost killed during her shift and all sorts of nonsense. He explained, rather calmly, that she didn't see the animatronic do anything besides try to enter the office, and for all she knew it could have been burglars that came in through the back Exit and broken the window and stormed the men's restroom. He then reminded her that he would have to report what happened to their employers, and that would devastate any future job opportunities for her.

She fell silent after that, at a complete loss at what to do. Feeling pity for her, he suggested that she write a resignation letter explaining that there had been a break-in and that she didn't have time to get a call for assistance out before they tried to get into the office. He would take care of replacing the window and cleaning up the office before they came back to the building, and he would make sure that the incident wouldn't have any effect on her records. He even offered to wire the rest of her paycheck to her account so she would still be paid for the night, but she turned down the offer, saying she simply wanted to go home and to forget the night ever happened.

He understood. She wasn't the first night guard to crack under the pressure. After she gathered her things and fled the building, he got to work cleaning up the glass and wiping down the electronics. He would give a friend of his a call to get the glass replaced later. Business as usual, he thought to himself as he cleaned up the stains left on the desk. He knew the drill.


	20. Hey guys

((**Author's Note:** Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates lately. This isn't a "Springloaded is going to be cancelled for now/for a while/indefinitely" update, I promise. I fully intend on finishing this story if it kills me. And I don't intend on taking months/years doing it, either.

I'm writing the next chapter right now, it's just taking me a bit because I'm trying to figure out how I want to go about it. I don't want it to be too corny, and I definitely don't want to force the concept. You'll see what I mean when you read it. We're at that weird bridge where everything up until this point was figured out, and everything after this point is figured out, but this is the gray area. After I get it all figured out we'll return to weekly updates again.

Thank you for your support so far! It's tons of fun to read the reviews you all leave. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story so far. We're halfway through the story, and the next few chapters is where it starts getting intense, so strap in and brace yourselves.

This will be deleted later, and replaced with the newest chapter. I just wanted to let you guys know what was going on. See you in the next chapter!))


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